Nick Agule
Email: nick.agule@yahoo.co.uk
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24.10.2026
Dr Raph Awoseyin was my boss when I worked for an international oil company (IOC) in Nigeria. He deployed me to the company’s global blueprint project, which developed a common, SAP-powered template for its operating companies worldwide.
I was genuinely pained to read his account below of his ordeal with Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC). Knowing Dr Awoseyin, I am confident he will pursue this matter to its justifiable conclusion. I wish him every success.
Yesterday, the entire Benue State was plunged into darkness over a commercial dispute between Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JED) and the Benue State Government. Rather than resolve a dispute with ONE customer, electricity supply was reportedly cut to an entire state by the DisCo! This is economic sabotage and elsewhere the DisCo would have faced legal consequences!
Blaming electricity theft on consumers is an indictment of operators who have failed to invest in infrastructure that minimises theft. In well-managed electricity systems, operators secure their assets through sound engineering, technology and enforcement rather than endlessly shifting the blame to customers. Theft prevention is an operator’s responsibility, not an excuse for operational failure.
WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS DESTROYS ITS OWN REVENUE BECAUSE IT CANNOT RESOLVE A DISPUTE WITH ONE CUSTOMER?
Dr Awoseyin’s experience is equally disturbing. After investing in solar power to protect himself from unreliable public electricity, he was reportedly presented with a ₦112,606 demand for “Loss of Revenue” because he was consuming less electricity from EKEDC. In effect, a customer who invests his own money to escape the grid’s failures is accused of depriving the DisCo of revenue!
This is the commercial absurdity Nigeria’s failed power-sector privatisation has entrenched.
How can a legitimate business respond to declining consumption by disconnecting the customer, thereby reducing its revenue from that customer to ZERO? The rational response is to improve service delivery, earn the customer’s confidence and grow consumption. But when operators can depend on government-funded interventions instead of delivering value, commercial discipline becomes optional.
Worse still, DisCos can leave entire communities in darkness until residents contribute money to purchase transformers, cables and meters before electricity is restored and the DisCo begins to bill them!
Imagine Dangote Refinery refusing to supply petrol until consumers contribute towards repairing its equipment. Imagine Air Peace grounding its flights until passengers raise money to buy an aircraft engine. Yet, Nigerians have become accustomed to a power sector in which consumers are expected to finance essential infrastructure while paying increasingly expensive tariffs for an unreliable service.
THIS IS NOT PRIVATISATION THAT WORKS FOR THE PEOPLE. IT IS PRIVATISATION WITHOUT ADEQUATE ACCOUNTABILITY.
President Jonathan’s power-sector privatisation transferred critical national assets to private operators, yet Nigerians have not received the reliable electricity needed to power economic growth. Instead, the Federal Government continues to commit enormous public resources to supporting a dysfunctional system, including through borrowing to settle sector liabilities of incompetent operators.
Under NEPA, Nigeria generated approximately 7,000MW through a vertically integrated public utility. After privatisation and fragmentation into over 40 generation, transmission and distribution companies, available supply has remained around 5,000MW, with nationwide grid collapses capable of bringing supply close to zero. Meanwhile, consumers face rising tariffs without commensurate improvements in service.
If President Tinubu had the political courage to remove the petrol subsidy, he must now demonstrate the same resolve to confront the power sector’s structural failures.
FUEL SUBSIDY IS GONE. NEXT MUST COME INCOMPETENT POWER-SECTOR OPERATORS AND A FAILED NNPCL THAT CANNOT JUSTIFY CONTINUED PUBLIC SUPPORT WITHOUT FUNDAMENTAL REFORM.
The President cannot keep asking Nigerians to pay more, borrowing public money to sustain power sector operators, and tolerating persistent failures without holding those responsible accountable. Operators that repeatedly fail to meet their obligations must face meaningful consequences, including restructuring, replacement or revocation where justified by law and evidence.
One reform President Tinubu should consider is unbundling the power sector into four layers: generation, transmission, distribution and retail. Transmission and distribution would provide the shared infrastructure, while competing retail operators would purchase electricity and sell directly to consumers.
With retail competition, Dr Awoseyin could simply pick up his phone and switch from EKEDC to a competing supplier. Benue residents could similarly abandon JED for a better provider.
States must also take ownership of their electricity markets, opening them to competent investors and competition. When consumers have genuine choices, inefficient operators must improve or lose customers.
The ultimate goal is simple: make the consumer king, not a captive of failed operators!
Nigeria cannot build an industrial economy on unreliable electricity. Businesses cannot thrive on generators, households cannot indefinitely absorb rising energy costs, and young people cannot find productive employment in an economy denied its most fundamental infrastructure.
NIGERIANS MUST NOT BE FORCED TO PAY FOR ELECTRICITY THEY DO NOT RECEIVE, FINANCE INFRASTRUCTURE THEY DO NOT OWN, AND THEN BE PUNISHED FOR FINDING THEIR OWN SOLUTIONS.
President Tinubu, the time for ACTION is now!
END THE POWER-SECTOR SCANDAL. HOLD FAILED OPERATORS ACCOUNTABLE. GIVE NIGERIANS ELECTRICITY THAT WORKS!
Nick Agule (nick.agule@yahoo.co.uk) is an energy expert
