Nigeria’s power sector faces renewed scrutiny over allegations of N128 billion in missing or diverted public funds, with Minister Adebayo Adelabu swiftly clarifying that the issues arose long before his watch.
Adelabu made this point on Monday via a statement from his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, countering a Sunday demand by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) for President Bola Tinubu to task Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi and anti-corruption agencies with investigating the Ministry of Power and Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET). SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, based the call on the 2022 Auditor-General’s report, though the group accused no one in the current administration.
The minister urged SERAP to drop what he called “baseless speculation,” noting the audit covers 2022—before his August 2023 appointment and the Tinubu government’s May inauguration. “While the Honourable Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, has no objection to calls for investigation, it is important to clearly state that he was appointed in August 2023, whereas the audit report in question relates to the 2022 financial year,” the statement read. It added that “the issues raised… pertain entirely to a period before the minister’s tenure” and hold “no bearing on the operations or financial activities of the Ministry under the current administration.”
Adelabu’s office pledged cooperation on “legacy issues” while prioritising stable electricity supply, and highlighted his track record of “strict adherence to due process, probity, transparency, and accountability” from prior public and private roles.
SERAP portrayed the claims as evidence of “deep-rooted governance failures,” insisting Nigerians suffer from power sector corruption. “Nigerians continue to pay the price for the widespread and grand corruption in the power sector. There is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice and accountability for these grave allegations,” its letter to the president stated.
The group proposed redirecting any recovered funds to cover the 2026 budget shortfall and tackle Nigeria’s debt crisis. It linked graft to outages, arguing “tackling corruption in the power sector would go a long way in addressing the persistent breakdown of transmission lines… and improving access of Nigerians to a regular and uninterrupted electricity supply.”
SERAP deemed the lapses a “grave violation of the public trust, the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the country’s anticorruption legislation and international anticorruption obligations,” warning of legal fallout if ignored.
Public excerpts from the Auditor-General’s 2022 report, as cited by SERAP, detail lapses at the Ministry of Power: over N4.4 billion sent to Mambilla, Zungeru, and Kashimbilla project accounts with “no evidence of how the funds were expended.” Auditors also queried N95.4 billion to contractors sans documentation or execution proof, N33.5 million on unapproved foreign travel (bypassing the Secretary to the Government of the Federation or Head of Civil Service), over N230 million on the GIGMIS platform, N282 million in non-personal advances breaching thresholds, and sundry payments lacking approvals or records.
NBET drew fire for irregular contract awards, unexplained sub-account transfers, unapproved payments, and consultancy fees for “services allegedly not rendered.” Across both entities, issues touched contract awards, consultancies, travel, vehicle buys, legal fees, training, and welfare, with auditors cautioning funds “may have been diverted” or “misapplied.”
This episode revives a grim history of accountability gaps in Nigeria’s electricity arena, where billions have vanished amid chronic blackouts. Power struggles began post-independence with the 1972 merger of electricity corporations into the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), a monopoly plagued by inefficiency and corruption scandals through the 1980s and 1990s.
The pivotal 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act unbundled NEPA into generation (Gencos), transmission (TCN), and distribution (DisCos) firms, birthing the Power Holding Company of Nigeria as a bridge. Privatisation followed in 2013, with DisCos sold to private investors amid promises of turnaround. Yet, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) reported in 2015 that only 40% of privatised firms met investment targets, while audits uncovered ghost projects.
Earlier probes, like the 2008 House of Representatives inquiry into $6 billion in unaccounted power contracts under President Yar’Adua, exposed inflated costs for undelivered turbines. The Jonathan administration grappled with the Mambilla project’s stalled $5.8 billion deal, flagged in 2016 for kickbacks. Buhari’s tenure saw the 2019 Treasury Single Account rollout and N213 billion in 2021 interventions, but a 2020 Auditor-General report still listed NPA’s N1.2 billion in dubious generator purchases.
The 2022 audit continues this thread, overlapping with efforts like the Siemens deal for 25,000MW capacity (signed 2019, slow progress) and the 2023 Electricity Act devolving powers to states. Recent grid failures—seven national collapses in 2024 per NERC—underscore the cost, with the World Bank estimating $29 billion annual losses from unreliable power. Adelabu, since taking helm, has touted tariff hikes and metering drives, but legacy debts like NBET’s N1.3 trillion linger.
