Nigerians may begin to experience a gradual improvement in electricity supply as ongoing maintenance on a major gas pipeline nears completion, the Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, Adebayo Olowoniyi, has said.
Olowoniyi, who spoke on Thursday during an appearance on Arise Television, disclosed that full restoration of gas supply to power plants is expected within the next two weeks.
His comments follow a recent apology by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, over persistent outages that have disrupted homes, businesses and industries nationwide.
Defending the minister’s stance, Olowoniyi said the apology reflected leadership and accountability rather than an admission of personal fault.
“I think, first of all, I’d like to start with the apology from the Honourable Minister, which we believe is all about taking leadership in the sector,” he said.
“Not necessarily directly his fault for the challenges that we have, but as the Minister of Power, it was the right leadership step to take ownership and ensure that solutions are provided in the shortest possible time.”
He attributed the recent drop in electricity generation to maintenance work on a critical gas pipeline supplying fuel to several power plants, stressing Nigeria’s heavy reliance on gas-fired power.
“One of the major gas pipelines in Nigeria was undergoing maintenance, and gradually that process is being completed,” he said.
According to him, restoration of gas pressure will enable power plants to return to their previous generation levels recorded in recent months.
“We’re sure that within the next two weeks, full gas pressure will be back on the pipelines, and power plants will be able to get enough gas to return to their levels of generation seen in the last two to three months,” Olowoniyi added.
He noted that early signs of recovery were already evident.
“From yesterday, we have started to see gradual improvement as pressure builds up, and this will continue over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Earlier in the week in Abuja, Adelabu attributed the outages to factors beyond the government’s immediate control but assured Nigerians that supply would stabilise soon.
He reiterated the Federal Government’s target to boost electricity generation to 6,000 megawatts before the end of 2026, describing the current disruption as temporary.