The Federal Government has described the performance of electricity distribution companies in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, as disappointing.

Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who stated this at a two-day retreat organised by the Senate Committee on Power, noted that the DisCos have been frustrating the efforts by the government to improve power supply.

A statement by the Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations to the Minister, Bolaji Tunji said Adelabu spoke on the persistent crisis threatening to derail progress in the sector which is chronic underinvestment in distribution infrastructure, which continues to cripple service delivery nationwide in spite of landmark reforms in the electricity sector.

The minister revealed glaring disparities in distribution company performance, with aging networks, rampant electricity theft, and poor investment deepening reliance on unsustainable subsidies and leaving millions in darkness.

He noted that in the 2003 restructuring of the sector, the DisCos were supposed to have technical partners, but a lot of them showed partnership with foreign companies for that purpose which lasted for about three months, immediately they took over, those companies left.

According to the minister, despite tariff adjustments that boosted market liquidity by 70 percent—raising sector revenue from ₦1 trillion in 2023 to ₦1.7 trillion in 2024—the distribution segment remains the weakest link.

The minister highlighted plans to attract private investment into grid infrastructure and regionalise transmission networks to reduce failure risks, noting that the 70 percent remittance by the two DisCos in Lagos reflects better infrastructure than what obtains in the northern networks.

He called on the National Assembly to enact stricter legislation aimed at safeguarding Nigeria’s power infrastructure from acts of vandalism.