Minister Reveals 10,000MW Stranded in Idle Plants, Blames ‘Wasteful’ Transmission Failure

Despite Nigeria’s crippling electricity shortages, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has revealed a startling inefficiency in the sector, disclosing that over 10,000 Megawatts (MW) of installed generation capacity is currently stranded and unused across the country.

Speaking emphatically at the Nigeria Energy Conference in Lagos, the Minister stated that the country’s problem is fundamentally a failure of infrastructure, not generation capability. The news, widely reported today, Sunday, November 2, 2025, immediately reframed the ongoing debate about the nation’s power crisis.

“In Nigeria today, we have over 10 gigawatts of stranded generation capacity. Yes, we have energy being generated or installed all over the country that we are not even using,” Adelabu asserted. He stressed that the country’s immediate challenge is not building more power plants, but ensuring stable transmission and effective distribution to the end-users.

The Minister did not mince words, describing the situation as “wasteful,” “lazy,” and “carefree.” He cited damning examples of critical national assets left to decay:

• Akwa Ibom Smelting Plant: He noted that the Aluminium Smelting Company hosts six 90MW turbines (a total of 540MW) that have been idle for twenty years simply because of a crucial four-kilometre gap in the transmission line needed to connect the facility to the national grid.
• NNPC Refinery: Adelabu also pointed to the NNPC’s Port Harcourt Refinery Company, which has an existing 84MW thermal plant that is “wasting away,” with the potential for an additional 120MW to be developed using the same facility.

The Minister’s charge to the industry and state governments was clear: the solution lies in utilizing these dormant assets. He called on state authorities to take the “bull by the horn” and leverage the Electricity Act of 2023, which empowers sub-nationals to generate, transmit, and distribute power within their states, effectively bypassing the historic bottlenecks of the federal grid.

The government, Adelabu assured investors, is committed to creating an enabling environment where private capital can thrive and long-term investment can finally unlock this vast, wasted power potential to light up the nation.