By Oluwatobi Adisa
As Oyo State prepares for the 2027 gubernatorial elections, one name continues to dominate political discourse, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Nigeria’s current Minister of Power. With an outstanding record in public service, a strong political base, and a reputation for excellence, Adelabu has positioned himself as the frontrunner in the race to lead Oyo State.
Before stepping into politics, Adelabu built an illustrious career in banking, rising to become the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)—a testament to his financial expertise and leadership prowess. His deep understanding of economic management and policy implementation makes him uniquely qualified to drive Oyo State’s development agenda.
Adelabu’s political journey in Oyo State has been one of resilience and strategic growth. In 2019, he was the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate, narrowly losing in a highly contested election. Despite the outcome, his campaign demonstrated his widespread appeal, particularly among the grassroots and business communities.
His subsequent appointment as Minister of Power under President Bola Tinubu’s administration further elevated his profile, giving him a national platform to showcase his administrative competence.
Since assuming office as Power Minister, Adelabu has taken bold steps to reform Nigeria’s electricity sector. Immediately on assumption of duty, as a technocrat and administrator that he is, he embarked on what could be described as fact-finding to understand the peculiar problem that has stagnated the power sector for decades with the best of 4000 megawatts in generation, stumping brilliant Nigerians who had held sway as Minister from our highly respected and erudite former Governor of Old Oyo State, late Chief Ajibola Ige, energy expert, Barth Nnanji and the ever popular former Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola. He consulted with some of these former Ministers in the power sector to understand the challenges they faced. After this was a stakeholders conference at Transcorp Hilton in Abuja. All these paid off as he had become adequately armed to face the challenges in the sector. He had warned Nigerians that he would not be a miracle worker as several decades of problem can not be solved with a magic wand. He however promised incremental improvement in the sector. These are obvious to Nigerians, though he was always the first to state that we are not where we ought to be, but we would get there.
One of the challenges he tackled was how to strengthen the power infrastructure in order to reduce incessant grid collapse and improve transmission infrastructure. One of such ways was reviving the delayed Siemens Energy deal which was expected to strengthen the nation’s power infrastructure. A contract was signed to accelerate the project and ensure development in the power sector. The pilot stage of the Siemens contract led to the installation of 10 mobile substations and 10 power transformers leading to an additional 700 megawatts. The first phase of the Siemens deal has commenced. This will ensure the building of some substations across different parts of the country while also strengthening transmission lines. More recently, another contract was signed with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to further improve electricity transmission with rehabilitation and construction of key transmission lines to increase the country’s power grid capacity by 7,140MW. The agreement will see CMEC construct 330kV and 132kV transmission lines covering over 544km, which will enhance the power distribution network across the country and ease longstanding bottlenecks in the grid, enabling more efficient power delivery to homes, businesses, industries and driving economic growth.
In order to ensure that unserved and underserved communities are not left out in the waves of improvement in the sector, some of these communities are enjoying off grid solutions to their power challenges through provision of solar mini grids in some of these communities. He has been able to source additional $750m funding from the World bank and $190m from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to further the provision of renewable energy to solve the challenges of unserved and the underserved.
It is also noteworthy worthy that between 2010 and 2024, the country witnessed over 200 grid collapse, this has greatly reduced by 60 percent with improved monitoring and strengthening of the power infrastructure.
Today, Nigeria presently has 6003 megawatts of available generation while 5801.84megawatts was successfully evacuated. It is historical, never has the country witnessed such improvement in the sector. It took over 40 years from the 2000 megawatts of the 80s to achieve 4000 megawatts in 2023. However, less than two years, over 1500 megawatts had been added to the grid.
A major problem tackling the industry is poor liquidity which has hampered growth and investment. To tackle this and ensure more efficient revenue collection, Adelabu concluded on the need to bridge the metering gap which is about seven million active electricity users.
As of December 2024, a total of 5,502,460 customers had been metered, representing about 55 percent of the 10,114,060 active electricity customers in Nigeria. In 2024 alone, 572,050 meters were installed. By 2026, the Federal Government will take delivery of 3, 205, 101 meter under the Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP). The first batch of 75,000 meters is expected by April 2025, followed by the second batch of 200,000 meters in May 2025.
In addition to the DISREP, the ₦700 billion Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) is also expected to accelerate metering. The initiative, which has already secured ₦700 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), is structured to ensure large-scale meter procurement and deployment.The government has set a target of deploying two million meters annually for five years, with the tender for the first batch of two million meters expected to be released by the third quarter of 2025. All these are expected to put a stop to what many described as devilish estimated billings, bridge the meter gaps and most importantly ensure liquidity in the sector through enhanced collection.
These achievements highlight Adelabu’s ability to tackle complex governance issues—a skill that will be invaluable in governing Oyo State.
Indeed, Adelabu remains the candidate to beat in 2027. He has established a proven track record. His success in banking and public service proves he can deliver good governance. His street popularity and deep roots in Oyo politics and engagement with local stakeholders give him an edge. He will definitely provide youthful and dynamic leadership. At 54, he represents a blend of experience and fresh ideas, appealing to young voters.
Also his financial background positions him to boost Oyo’s economy and attract investments. As a serving minister, he has the networks to attract federal projects to Oyo State.
For Oyo State to compete favourably with other states and continue to be a pacesetter, the State needs Adelabu leadership. He is someone who combines competence, vision, and political sagacity, Penkelemes stands out as the best choice. His antecedent, political trajectory, and outstanding performance as Power Minister make him the candidate to beat in 2027. Oyo deserves a leader who can transform challenges into opportunities—Adelabu is that leader.
Adisa, a political analyst wrote from Ibadan.
