Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) have known as on the Minister of Power to intervene within the ongoing blame game amongst stakeholders within the electricity sector, warning that the trade is slipping again into the sample that characterised it between 2016 and 2019.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Sunday Oduntan, made the attraction on Monday throughout an look on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, amid persistent electricity shortages throughout the nation.
He criticised conflicting explanations from the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) over fuel provide constraints.
Oduntan criticizes blame game
Oduntan mentioned disagreements amongst operators over the causes of poor electricity provide have been threatening efforts to address the disaster, recalling an identical sample of accusations that characterised the sector between 2016 and 2019.
He defined that distribution firms, transmission operators, era firms and fuel suppliers regularly blamed each other for insufficient electricity provide throughout that interval.
- “Our major problem is that we have started that very wrong route that we went through between 2016 and 2019. What is that? Blame game,” he mentioned.
- “Part of what happened at that time is that people will blame the DisCos, DisCos will blame TCN, TCN will blame GenCos, GenCos will blame the gas suppliers, and gas suppliers will blame payment issues. We have returned to that, and I think there is a need to arrest that,” he added.
The ANED chief additionally questioned conflicting explanations from NISO and NNPC concerning the components accountable for the current electricity shortages.
He famous that NISO had attributed the provision challenges partly to low water ranges and insufficient fuel provide, whereas NNPC subsequently issued an announcement saying its fuel transportation community had recorded no constraints affecting deliveries to power crops.
However, Oduntan questioned the completeness of the NNPC’s clarification, arguing that the corporate ought to make clear whether or not excellent funds have been affecting fuel deliveries to power era firms.
- “From the NNPC statement, it is very clear that they came to tell us half-truths. What I would have expected NNPC to do is to go ahead and talk to us whether there are payment issues. We need to know whether gas was paid for and delivered, who did, who didn’t,” he mentioned.
He urged the Minister of Power to carry the related stakeholders collectively to set up the precise causes of the shortages and guarantee accountability.
- “This back-and-forth blame game between gas suppliers, NNPC and, of course, TCN or NISO, I think the Minister of Power needs to take charge. There is a need for this leadership because, at the end of the day, they need to call them together,” he mentioned.
Discos apologize over outages
Oduntan additionally apologised to Nigerians over the extended electricity shortages, acknowledging the hardship attributable to weeks of insufficient provide.
- “I’d like to first of all start by apologising to Nigerians. Apology is needed; it is essential because Nigerians have been taken through this problem over the past few weeks,” he mentioned.
The extended outages have intensified frustration amongst households and companies, with unreliable electricity disrupting every day actions and growing reliance on various power sources.
Conflicting accounts deepen considerations over power provide
Nairametrics had earlier reported on the conflicting explanations from key electricity sector operators over the causes of the nation’s power shortages.
However, NNPC challenged NISO’s clarification three days later. On November 8, 2026, Nairametrics reported that NNPC disputed NISO’s explanation, saying its fuel transportation community had recorded no constraints affecting deliveries to power crops. The firm additionally reported a ten% enhance in fuel manufacturing in 2026 yr to date.
Nairametrics additionally reported on November 7, 2026, that the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, expected electricity supply to improve within 48 to 72 hours, following deliberate upkeep at Egbin Power Station, fuel provide constraints and harm to crucial transmission infrastructure.
