We’re Targeting 20 Hours of Electricity Daily by 2027 – FG

The Nigerian federal government has announced plans to ensure that by 2027, residents in urban areas and industrial zones will have access to at least 20 hours of stable electricity daily. This ambition was shared by Olu Verheijen, Special Adviser to the President on Energy, during her remarks at the recent Energy Week conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

Verheijen emphasized that achieving this target hinges on substantial investments in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The government’s drive, she stated, is aimed at improving electricity access for millions of Nigerians who currently experience unreliable power, estimating that around 86 million people remain underserved. The initiative also intends to boost revenue collection across the energy sector.

In a statement from Abiodun Oladunjoye, Director of Information and Publicity at the State House, Verheijen was quoted saying, “By 2027, Nigeria aims to ensure 20 hours of electricity daily for consumers in urban areas and industrial hubs.” The project is part of a broader effort by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to stabilize power for economic growth and improved quality of life.

This commitment comes amid recurring collapses of Nigeria’s national power grid, which have triggered widespread outages across the country. Thursday’s incident marked the second grid failure in a week and the twelfth this year, causing frustration among Nigerians who took to social media to express their concerns.

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) recently attributed these blackouts to infrastructure issues within electricity distribution companies (DisCos). According to the NOA, while Nigeria has an installed generation capacity of approximately 13,610 MW—boosted by the Zungeru hydroelectric plant which added 700 MW in the second quarter of this year—the nation’s grid can only transmit up to 8,000 MW, and the active distribution capacity of DisCos remains around 4,000 MW. This infrastructure gap, they explained, has led to repeated system failures, affecting millions.

The federal government remains optimistic about the long-term goals for power stability but continues to call for infrastructural improvements across the distribution network to ensure the benefits of increased generation capacity reach all Nigerians.