The Ministry of Power on Thursday dismissed reports that Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe promised to fix Nigeria’s national power grid within three months, saying the claims were inaccurate and misleading. Tegbe, the minister of power, said no such commitment was made during his Senate screening on May 6, 2026.
Adeola Adelabu, his spokesperson, said the timelines for reforms in the power sector were still being developed and would depend on technical diagnostics and consultations with key stakeholders. The statement said initial efforts to stabilise the national grid would begin within Tegbe’s first 100 days in office, while deeper structural changes could take significantly longer.
The clarification matters because the power sector remains one of Nigeria’s most sensitive public failures, with the national grid repeatedly facing collapse and the ministry under pressure to show progress without overpromising. In its statement, the ministry said reforms around sector credibility, gas supply, metering and operational efficiency could take up to one year to deliver meaningful progress.
Tegbe was quoted as saying Nigerians would see visible improvement in the sector, and that he would stabilise the national grid, modernise electricity infrastructure, strengthen commercial frameworks and enforce accountability across the value chain. He also reportedly assured lawmakers that vulnerable households would be protected while the government works on electricity tariff reforms, a balancing act that sits at the centre of the ministry’s current agenda.
The tension in the dispute is not about whether the grid needs fixing. It is about how much Tegbe actually promised and how fast he said results could be expected. A fact check published on Thursday by Daily Trust said he did not directly say, “I will fix grid collapse in three months,” and noted that his transcript did not show an explicit promise to completely end grid collapse within that period.
That fact check quoted Tegbe as saying, “My promise to this chamber and to Nigeria is that Nigerians will see visible improvement in the sector,” and also, “If you don’t see this in three months, it means you won’t see it in six months. So you must see it in three months, and you must hold us accountable for it.” It further cited his remarks that, “There are questions around grid collapse, and the next phase, in 100 days, is to stabilise that grid.”
For Tegbe and the ministry, the immediate task is to turn those words into a timetable the public can measure. The statement makes clear that the first phase is stabilization, not a full cure, and that the hardest work on reform — from gas supply to metering and the commercial structure of the sector — will take months, not days.
