Energy & subsidies

We must look beyond total dependence oil. We will reduce the subsidy cost by over 50% with concomitant measures and counter-balance policies and programmes to cushion the impact of the removal of oil subsidy.

We are going to dismantle the confusion in Ports Administration and get this country to work. Fuel subsidy is an organised crime and I will remove it immediately, if I am elected President. Which reasonable country will spend more on subsidy than Education, Health etc. - PO https://t.co/yQBa81uNpn

Today, I honoured the invitation to the Commissioning of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals in Lagos. This is the World's Largest Single Train Petroleum Refinery. https://t.co/5yFgjOnK8f

The Nigerian electricity supply industry has continued to face a real and present danger of collapse despite the efforts made in more than two decades to initiate a reform of the sector.

Yesterday, I read a report in the Media on how Tanzania, our East African fellow nation, recently shut down five hydroelectric stations to reduce excess electricity in the national grid.

Dangote Refinery Should Be Fully Supported, Not Vilified The recent conflicts between Dangote Industries and some government agencies are deeply troubling. This issue transcends political affiliations and personal grievances. It is fundamentally about Nigeria’s economy, future, https://t.co/bSxt5Hweuo

The continued power outages in many parts of the country, particularly in the Northern and Eastern States, as well as South-South states, have remained a cause of grievous concern. It is heartbreaking to see that the affected states, majorly in the Northern parts of Nigeria, have been facing a total blackout for several days now. The negative impact of the continued power outage on businesses, especially small businesses, who depend primarily on public power supply to sustain their businesses as a means of livelihood, is unimaginable. This power crisis, when combined with the present high cost of petroleum products and a harsh operating environment, remains a lethal recipe for widespread business failure and increasing poverty in the country. I have consistently maintained that solving Nigeria's power and energy crisis is not rocket science. Many of our comparable peer nations have demonstrated how possible it is to provide sustainable power for their citizens. Our African neighbour, Egypt, for example, invested aggressively in their power sector, which resulted in the establishment of a sustainable power infrastructure by way of many power stations. Today, Egypt has revolutionized power and energy production in the country, providing sustainable power to millions of small businesses, which account for over 90% of active enterprises in the country and contributes to over 80 percent of their GDP. My sincere thoughts are with everyone enduring these tough times in our nation. I call on the government to ramp up efforts and provide both immediate and long-term solutions to this seemingly perennial challenge. With adequate power supply, a New Nigeria is POssible. -PO

Again, yesterday the now regular news came that the National Grid had collapsed once again. Just a few days ago, on the 25th of October, South Africa that was the second-largest economy in Africa behind Nigeria until recently, with a quarter of our population, celebrated seven months of uninterrupted power supply. South Africa generates and distributes about 40,000 MW of electricity, while Nigeria struggles to generate and distribute just 10% of that. Yet, despite this stark disparity, Nigerians continue to endure daily power outages. And when I ask the question: is there any tribe in Nigeria that enjoys uninterrupted power supply like South Africa? I am labelled a tribal bigot. When I ask if any religion enjoys special privileges in this crisis, I am called a religious bigot. But I will continue to speak the truth about our situation today. The fact remains that we are all suffering equally from this failure. The solution lies not in tribal or religious affiliations but in visionary leadership and a shared commitment to progress. We must set aside these primordial sentiments and elect leaders who are competent, capable, and have the vision to transform our nation from a consumer-driven economy to a productive one by investing our meager resources in critical areas of development like health and education, lifting our people out of poverty, and ensuring increased electricity production and distribution. A new Nigeria is POssible! -PO

National grid collapse is now a recurring decimal. I have just read the reports of the collapse of our national grid, just 11 days into the new year. Most of last year, we faced recurrent national grid collapses. That occurred about 12 times in the year. The untold setback and hardship it brought on households and businesses was immeasurable. Further reports showed that Nigeria has borrowed over $3.23 billion in the last four years to fix its electricity problems, and yet the country cannot produce more than about 4,500 megawatts of power for the people. Instead of making significant progress, our recurrent occurrences of grid collapse have continued to characterize our power sector. One then wonders where all the funds borrowed for the power sector have gone into. The lack of sincere commitment by us, the leaders, to the true development of the nation, followed by the widespread corruption eating through every sector of our national existence, has continued to drive retrogression and backwardness in our nation. This is a new year, and again, I will appeal to the government to make it a fresh start by building on the lessons of yesteryear to now improve every aspect of the nation, including the power sector, without which households and small businesses will continue to struggle under immeasurable economic burdens. A New Nigeria Remains POssible. -PO

Following my earlier message regarding the alleged collapse of the National Grid, which was based on reports from reputable media platforms, I have since learned that there was no such collapse. Instead, the incident involved the tripping of the Osogbo-Ihovbor and Benin-Omotosho lines, which affected the Lagos axis. I appreciate the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) for their prompt clarification on the matter. I sincerely hope we will prioritize enhancing our infrastructure in the power sector and remain committed to improving power generation to meet the growing needs of over 200 million Nigerians. A New Nigeria remains possible. -PO

When will Nigerians truly breathe? A timely and relevant question, as a new 5% tax on all refined fossil fuel sales, including petrol and diesel, has just been announced by the Federal Government. That is, Nigerians will pay a 5% tax when buying their everyday fuel or diesel at a time when millions can hardly even afford the cost of transportation. Mr. President just yesterday boasted that Nigeria has met its revenue target for the year. Yet instead of easing hardship, the government imposes more burden on Nigerians. Even the so-called alternative, CNG, has become unaffordable, rising from about ₦230 to ₦450, while the promised subsidies on the CNG have quietly vanished. If our revenues are truly ‘excessive’ as claimed, should they not first be used to fund education, healthcare and pulling Nigerians out of poverty? Why tax citizens who cannot even breathe anymore? This 5% fuel tax should wait until Nigerians begin to see tangible improvements in their lives from all the many promises from Mr. President. Leadership is not about giving a burden, it is about reducing suffering, it is about care and compassion. A new Nigeria is POssible. -PO

Lest we forget, If I Don't Give You Constant Electricity in The Next 4 Years, Don't Vote For Me For Second Term The impact is too glaring for Nigerians to forget the promise of Mr. President while campaigning on 22nd December 2022 that: "If I Don't Give You Constant Electricity in The Next 4 Years, Don't Vote For Me For Second Term". For a nation already stated to have more people living without electricity than anywhere in the world, there could not be any more firm comforting political promise than this. Yet APC and its current Government have presided over more national grid failures and power outages than any government in our history. There are now repeated blackouts despite billions in power investments. Over the years, billions of dollars have been spent on the power sector in Nigeria. In fact, Nigeria has spent more on power generation with little or no increase in supply, than countries like Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Yet, while some of these nations have proudly doubled their electricity generation, and distribution by adding tens of thousands of megawatts to transform their economies and increase their GDP, Nigeria has barely crawled from 4,500MW to 5,000MW. With a GDP of about $200 billion, Nigeria has the capacity to significantly boost its economy if it invests properly in electricity. Generating even a bare minimum of 10,000MW could raise our GDP by about 50%, which will unlock industrial growth, and create millions of jobs. But rather than focusing on this, which will improve our economy, we are focused on coastal roads that will contribute far less to our economic growth, while factories shut down, jobs disappear, businesses collapse, and ordinary Nigerians live in darkness. Mr. President, it is time to prioritise generating and distributing more electricity to power businesses, especially NSME, which will create jobs and grow the economy. A New Nigeria is POssible. -PO