The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors has requested the Minister of Power to step in and manage disagreements among industry players. Nairametrics reported that Sunday Oduntan, the association’s chief executive, made this appeal on Monday. He warned that the sector is repeating a cycle of mutual accusations similar to the one seen between 2016 and 2019. During that earlier period, distribution, transmission, generation, and gas supply firms frequently shifted responsibility for poor performance to one another.
Oduntan pointed to specific contradictions in recent official statements about the current crisis. According to Nairametrics, the Nigerian Independent System Operator blamed low water levels and insufficient gas for the recent drop in generation on November 5, 2026. However, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company disputed this view three days later. On November 8, 2026, the oil giant claimed its gas transport network faced no major constraints and that production had risen by 10 percent year-to-date.
The ANED leader argued that these differing narratives are complicating efforts to fix the problem. He suggested that the petroleum company’s report was incomplete, particularly regarding financial flows. Oduntan wanted to know if unpaid invoices were causing delays in gas delivery to power plants. He felt the company should have explicitly stated who was paying for the fuel and who was not, rather than just confirming the physical transport infrastructure was working.
To resolve this, Oduntan urged Joseph Tegbe, the power minister, to convene all involved parties. He believed strong leadership was needed to force these operators to agree on the root causes of the outages. Nairametrics noted that Tegbe had previously predicted an improvement in supply within two to three days after maintenance at the Egbin Power Station and repairs to transmission lines.
Oduntan also offered an apology to the public for the extended duration of the outages. He acknowledged that weeks of unreliable power have disrupted daily life for homes and businesses, forcing them to rely more heavily on alternative energy sources. His goal is to halt the circular flow of blame between the gas suppliers, the petroleum company, and the system operator, which he views as a primary barrier to stability.