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By Daniel Adaji
The Federal Government has called on private sector players to contribute $15.5bn towards its ambitious electricity expansion initiative, the Mission 300 Compact, which aims to provide power to 300m underserved Africans by 2030.
Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, made this known on Tuesday, at the Mission 300 Stakeholders Engagement meeting held in Abuja. He disclosed that the total investment required for the project is estimated at $32.8bn, with $15.5bn expected from private sources.
The Minister emphasised that the Federal Government is committed to ensuring the power sector becomes sustainable and bankable, describing reforms in the sector as critical to Nigeria’s economic growth.
“Mobilizing this level of financing will demand innovation, coordination, and a shared commitment. In this room today are many of the institutions and individuals who can help us shape the future of Nigeria’s energy sector. Let us take this opportunity to ask hard questions, identify practical solutions, and develop actionable plans that will make universal access a reality not just in the policy space, but in the daily lives of our citizens,” he said.
He listed key priorities for sectoral reforms, including resolving market liquidity issues and transitioning to a fully cost-reflective tariff regime. According to him, the Federal Government owes N4tn in unpaid subsidies to generation companies as of December 2024.
“To ensure that further obligations are not accrued going forward, the government is working on a plan to transition the sector to a fully cost-reflective regime while implementing targeted subsidies for the economically vulnerable citizens in the country,” Adelabu said.
The government also plans to recover idle generation capacity, expand energy mix, and inject cheaper and cleaner sources into the grid. The Minister added that transmission infrastructure would be expanded to reduce frequent grid collapses.
“Ensuring viability and performance improvement of the distribution segment of the power sector through strategic programs like the Presidential Metering Initiative and the World Bank-funded Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP)” is also a key focus, he noted.
He highlighted efforts to improve renewable energy access in rural areas and build local human capital through training institutes to reduce import dependency and stimulate employment.
“I assure you that the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to this vision and through the Federal Ministry of Power, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, we will continue to champion reforms, promote innovation, and partner with all stakeholders to deliver a sustainable energy future,” he said.
Adelabu appreciated the World Bank Group, African Development Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), and Sustainable Energy for All for backing Mission 300. “This ambition reflects our shared belief that energy access is a fundamental issue that must be urgently addressed to unlock economic potential of the continent,” he added.
Recalling the Dar es Salaam Africa Energy Summit held in January 2025, he said President Tinubu joined 11 other African leaders in endorsing the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration, committing Nigeria to accelerating access to electricity and clean cooking by 2030.
“We presented our National Energy Compact with the aim of achieving universal access by 2030 by increasing the rate of electricity access from 4 percent to 9 percent per annum and raising access to clean cooking from 22 percent to 25 percent per annum,” he said.
Also speaking at the event via Zoom from Brazil, Minister of Finance, Chief Wale Edun, said the ongoing reforms are already yielding results. “The reforms have led to over 40 percent increase in power distribution in the first quarter of 2025,” he said, adding that they are critical to unlocking economic potential and creating jobs.