The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, on Wednesday said some electricity consumers had urged him to “slow down” with efforts to improve power supply because their freezers were now working continuously.
Tegbe made the remark in Abuja while speaking at the commissioning of a 3-megawatt solar hybrid power project at Yakubu Gowon University, formerly known as the University of Abuja.
The minister said he had received feedback from consumers in different parts of the country following improvements in electricity supply.
“Places that didn’t have light at all for three months are now having 18 hours light. Some areas called me to say, look, I should slow down, that everything in their freezer is freezing. That is what freezer is meant to do. Let it freeze the food that needs to be frozen”, Tegbe said.
Tegbe recalled that during his Senate screening, he promised that Nigerians would begin to notice improvements in electricity supply within three to six months.
He, however, acknowledged the difficulties confronting the sector, particularly the age of some electricity infrastructure across the country.
“Some of the infrastructure we have in the electricity and power sector are more than 40 years old. We’re systematically replacing them, phasing them out and bringing new ones,” he said.
The minister also expressed concern over the continued vandalism of critical power infrastructure, revealing that vandals had destroyed three major transmission towers in Birnin Kebbi.
According to him, the affected towers formed part of the infrastructure supplying electricity to Kebbi State and extending into Niger Republic.
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He explained that the vandals targeted the foundations of the towers before bringing the structures down and cutting portions of them for sale as scrap.
To tackle the problem, Tegbe said the Federal Government had constituted a joint working committee involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to monitor and protect national electricity assets.
“You will not believe how many towers get pulled down by vandals,” he said.
He added that the government was working towards ensuring that the destruction of critical electricity infrastructure was treated as a serious criminal offence.
Speaking on the Yakubu Gowon University project, Tegbe said the facility consists of a 3.3-megawatt solar array, 3MW AC output capacity and battery storage designed to provide electricity to key areas of the university.
He said the project would supply power to lecture halls, laboratories, ICT facilities, administrative buildings, campus lighting and other essential facilities.
More than 58,726 students are expected to benefit from the project, which has 6,078 photovoltaic panels and 388 streetlights installed across the institution.
The minister added that the project created 3,201 jobs during its implementation.
According to Tegbe, the battery storage system could be expanded in the future to cover more parts of the university, including student hostels.
He also said the Rural Electrification Agency would collaborate with the university to address areas of the campus that still required improved lighting.
Tegbe urged the institution to turn the facility into a research platform for renewable energy, battery storage, smart metering, energy management, grid integration, cybersecurity and other emerging areas of energy technology.
The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, described the project as an important milestone under the Energising Education Programme.
Aliyu said the success of the initiative should not be measured solely by the amount of electricity generated, but also by its effect on students, academic activities, research and the overall learning environment.
He noted that dependable electricity would improve laboratory operations, strengthen digital services and reduce the pressure of power-related expenses on university budgets.
The REA boss also encouraged the university to use the infrastructure to conduct research into distributed energy resources and develop solutions that address Nigeria’s energy challenges.
The Head of the Nigeria Electrification Project, Olufemi Akinyelure, said the broader value of the project lay in the opportunities that reliable electricity would create.
“The government may not be in the business of making profit, but it must always be in the business of making progress. And perhaps no public investment yields a greater return than investment in education because when we power a university, we do not merely light buildings; we illuminate minds, enable innovation and strengthen the future of our nation,” Akinyelure said.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, commended the Federal Government and the minister for the implementation of the Energising Education Programme.
Abaribe described reliable electricity as essential to the development of Nigeria’s education sector, recalling that power supply in universities was more dependable during his time as a student.
He, however, stressed that maintaining public infrastructure required the involvement and cooperation of communities where such projects were located.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of Yakubu Gowon University, Prof. Hakeem Fawehinmi, said reliable electricity was essential to the institution’s academic responsibilities.
Fawehinmi said modern universities required stable power to effectively teach students, conduct research, operate laboratories and maintain digital services.
He appreciated the Federal Government and the Rural Electrification Agency for the intervention, describing the solar hybrid project as a major infrastructure investment in the university.
The vice-chancellor also called for sustained cooperation between government agencies and the institution to ensure that the project remains functional and delivers its intended benefits to students and staff.