Former Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to embrace a decentralised approach to electricity generation and distribution, insisting that Nigeria must reduce its heavy dependence on the national grid and promote community-driven power solutions.
In an open letter to the President, Murray-Bruce examined the persistent challenges in generation, transmission, distribution, metering and financing. Citing figures from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), he noted that while the country had an installed generation capacity of 13,625 megawatts in April, only about 4,286MW was available for dispatch.
He further pointed to a sharp drop in grid generation on August 22, when output fell to roughly 1,132MW in the evening from more than 4,000MW earlier the same day.
“These figures should make it clear that Nigeria’s electricity challenge is not simply about building more generating capacity. We need to examine the entire structure of the sector, including how power is generated, transmitted, distributed, metered and paid for,” the former senator stated.
Murray-Bruce was critical of the 2013 privatisation of the power sector, arguing that it failed to deliver the expected transformation. “The 2013 privatisation was not the transformation Nigerians expected. In my view, it largely amounted to a transfer of custody without ensuring that the new owners had the financial strength and technical capacity required to make the system work at the scale Nigeria needs,” he said.
He also highlighted the wide metering gap, noting that millions of active electricity customers still lack meters. Estimated billing, he argued, makes it difficult for consumers to track their consumption and spending. “A meter is a machine that tells the truth. An estimated bill is a machine that does not. If we want consumers to trust the electricity market, metering has to become a priority,” he declared.
The former Bayelsa senator proposed that estates, communities and local areas should be allowed to develop their own electricity systems, particularly through solar generation, under proper financing and regulation. “Every village, every estate and every community in Nigeria should have the opportunity to develop an electricity solution suited to its own circumstances,” he said.
He urged state governments to take greater responsibility for powering public facilities under their control, including streetlights, schools and primary healthcare centres while the Federal Government concentrates on federal infrastructure. Murray-Bruce noted that the Electricity Act 2023 has already opened more room for states to participate in electricity regulation and development, citing Aba as an example of how localised generation and distribution can complement the national system.
He called on the Federal Government to coordinate reforms that will encourage decentralised generation, attract private investment and enforce stronger accountability across the sector. Murray-Bruce expressed optimism that a mix of government reforms, private capital and community participation can improve electricity reliability and ease the economic burden caused by persistent power shortages.
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