President Bola Tinubu has deflected criticism over Nigeria’s persistent power crisis, blaming previous administrations for what he described as a flawed privatisation of the electricity sector that has left Nigerians in darkness.
Tinubu made the remarks while receiving a delegation of Enugu State political leaders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday 21st April, saying: “You have leaders who privatised electricity that is not working. They gave us darkness and descent, and we are trying to get ourselves through that to build a nation of bright hope and joyful people.”
The president, without naming specific individuals, urged supporters to ignore opposition voices. “Don’t pay attention to them because I don’t. We stay on our lanes. We stay focused. We build our life on people, the welfare, the prosperity, and the promise of today and tomorrow,” he said.
Tinubu also attributed Nigeria’s broader development challenges to a historic funding mismatch. “What has been the problem in the past is a Nigeria that is trying to finance long term projects with short term funding. We have not embarked on a serious, long term outlook for our country,” he said.
The remarks come amid worsening electricity supply nationwide and growing scrutiny of his government’s record on power. Tinubu had famously promised during electioneering that if he failed to provide steady electricity in his first four years, Nigerians should not vote for him for a second term, a pledge that opposition figures, including Peter Obi, have repeatedly invoked as the crisis deepened.
The privatisation Tinubu referenced was carried out under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration in 2013, though critics have noted that successive governments since then including those of Presidents Buhari and Tinubu himself have been unable to reverse its failures.
