Nigeria’s perennial power outage has been a longstanding issue, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is condemning the recent blackout in the Southeast, Northwest, and Northeastern regions.
Atiku, the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, took to X to express his concerns, stating that the affected areas have been in complete darkness for three weeks ¹.
“In particular reference is the situations in both the Southeast and the entire states of the Northwest and Northeast that have been in complete blackouts in the past three weeks,” Atiku wrote. “Every government department responsible for addressing the problem must be quick in its intervention and restore electricity back to the distressed geopolitical zones.”
Atiku believes his policy document, ‘My Covenant with Nigerians’, holds the key to resolving the country’s power outage woes. “Meanwhile, I still believe that my solution, as encapsulated in my Policy Document, ‘My Covenant with Nigerians’, remains the most proactive plan to lead our country out of perennial darkness.”
Atiku is also advocating for the decentralization of electricity to states, emphasizing the need to grant states the power to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity. “There is an urgent need to remove the entire electricity value chain from the exclusive list and grant states the power to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity for themselves,” he added.
In related news, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is working to restore electricity to the North after a days-long power outage. TCN announced that it’s close to providing a temporary 400-megawatt power supply to the affected Northern regions via the UGWUAJI APIR Line. This interim solution is expected to be implemented within hours.
As Nigeria continues to grapple with power outages, Atiku’s proposed solution and TCN’s efforts offer a glimmer of hope for the millions affected.
