ABUJA, Nigeria (CHATNEWSTV) — The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, on Wednesday criticized Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu over his recent claim that 150 million Nigerians now enjoy adequate electricity supply of 5,500 megawatts, calling the statement “a joke taken too far.”
In a sharply worded statement, Ajaero dismissed the minister’s comments as detached from reality and an affront to millions of Nigerians enduring unreliable power.
“The wild assertion is not only pretentious but also a bad joke on a people daily confronted by grinding darkness, outrageous electricity tariffs, and a power sector manipulated for private profit at the expense of national progress,” Ajaero said.
He mocked the minister’s optimism, saying, “Perhaps the minister wants to perform Jesus’ miracle of feeding 5,000 persons with five loaves of bread and two fish.”
The labour leader argued that Adelabu’s claim of providing adequate power to over 150 million citizens flies in the face of the country’s persistent generation issues, which have struggled to rise above an unstable 5,000 megawatts.
“To suggest that over 150 million Nigerians have access to reliable power in a country that struggles to generate a meagre and inconsistent 5,000 megawatts—far below the global benchmark of 1,000 MW per one million people—is to insult the intelligence and lived realities of Nigerians,” he said.
Ajaero stressed that Nigeria should be producing at least 150,000 MW to make such a claim credible, noting that “even on its best day, the country’s electricity generation has never exceeded 5,500 MW—and that figure remains unstable and unreliable.”
He questioned the infrastructure supposedly supporting such power output: “Where are the power plants that make this level of supply possible? Where is the upgraded transmission infrastructure to support such output? Why are our homes still shrouded in darkness and our factories shutting down daily?”
Calling for accountability, the NLC urged Adelabu to align with international performance benchmarks instead of “resorting to misleading proclamations.”
“The truth is that millions of Nigerians, from urban slums to rural communities, continue to live without access to electricity,” Ajaero added. “The few who have access do so under constant threat of disconnection, blackouts, and financial exploitation through a complex pyramid of inflated tariffs and arbitrary billing.”
