The Federal Government has announced the launch of a pilot reform programme targeting two underperforming electricity distribution companies (DisCos) as part of sweeping efforts to revitalise Nigeria’s troubled power sector.
The announcement was made by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, following a strategic meeting with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which presented a detailed roadmap for the restructuring under a document titled Revamping of the Distribution Sector in Nigeria.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Adelabu declared that the government would no longer tolerate the inefficiencies and chronic underperformance of the DisCos, many of which are grappling with obsolete infrastructure, poor governance, and inadequate customer service delivery.
“We can no longer fold our hands and watch the inadequacies of DisCos, whose performances fall short of expectations. This pilot is not optional,” Adelabu said.
“We will use our regulatory authority to restructure non-performing DisCos and compel compliance where necessary.”
The pilot scheme, which is expected to commence between May and August 2025, will target one DisCo in the North and another in the South, with the goal of testing a new operational and regulatory framework that could be scaled nationwide.
The move comes after repeated warnings from the minister over the DisCos’ failure to invest in expanding and maintaining their network, an issue he says continues to frustrate the government’s plans to transition customers to higher, cost-reflective tariff bands.
The Ministry of Power says the pilot phase will also serve as a testbed for new accountability measures, performance benchmarks, and service delivery improvements, all designed to address longstanding inefficiencies in the distribution arm of Nigeria’s electricity value chain.
The federal government’s resolve marks a significant turning point in its decades-long struggle to fix the power sector, and signals a willingness to adopt both regulatory pressure and international technical partnerships to drive long-awaited change.
