On Wednesday, May, 6^, 2026, we wrote an editorial on the appointment of a new minister-designate for Power, Mr. Joseph Olasunkanmi by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In that editorial we highlighted some of the promises he made to Nigerians during his screening by the Senate in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

At the Senate Tegbe pledged to stabilize the national grid, end chronic power shortages, and address infrastructure vandalism in Nigeria within three months, urging citizens to hold him accountable for these rapid reforms. He also promised to tackle the persistent grid collapse in Nigeria and reform the transmission infrastructure.

His words, “My promise to Nigeria and to this chamber is that Nigerians will see visible improvement in the sector,” he said, pledging to carry out an independent diagnosis of the industry while deepening transparency and accountability across the electricity value chain.

The minister‑designate outlined plans to strengthen coordination between the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, and other stakeholders.

Noting that Nigeria’s electricity challenges goes beyond technical faults to include governance gaps, under‑capitalization, gas supply constraints, and commercial inefficiencies, Tegbe described frequent national grid collapses as a reflection of weak transmission systems, ageing infrastructure, unstable frequency control, and poor regulatory enforcement adding that  gas shortages, transmission bottlenecks and weak coordination continue to keep actual generation far below the country’s installed capacity of over 13,000 megawatts, with supply rarely exceeding 4,500 megawatts.

He also promised to review the electricity tariffs through transparent reforms that would protect vulnerable households while balancing sustainability, investor confidence and overall sector efficiency, pledging support for sub‑national investments in mini‑grids, solar expansion and greater state participation under the Electricity Act.

Based on these assurances we warmly welcomed the Minister-designate and charged him to make sure he walks the Talk

It is therefore surprising that, less than two days after he made the promises on the floor of the Senate watched LIVE by millions of Nigerians, and after the Senate has confirmed his appointment based on the promises and pledges , the Ministry of Power issued a press release to dismiss media reports on the Minister Tegbe’s, promise to fix Nigeria’s recurring grid collapse within three months.

‎‎The statement issued on Thursday described the reports as “a clear misrepresentation” of the Minister’s remarks during his Senate screening on May 6, 2026.

‎‎According to the spokesperson of the ministry, Adeola Adelabu, Mr. Tegbe “made no such commitment” and merely stated that efforts to stabilize the grid would commence within his first 100 days in office.

‎To establish the truth, we compared the spokesperson’s statement with the actual transcript of Tegbe’s comments before the Senate.

‎‎What Tegbe said:

‎‎A review of the screening transcript shows that Tegbe did not directly say:

‎“I will fix grid collapse in three months.”

‎‎‎However, he made several statements linking his proposed reforms to a three-month timeline.

‎‎Speaking before the Senate, Tegbe said: ‎“My promise to Nigerians and to this chamber is that Nigerians will see visible improvement in the sector. If you don’t see this in three months, it means you won’t see it in six months. So you must see it in three months, and you must hold us accountable for it.”

‎On the issue of the national grid, he added: “There are questions around grid collapse, and the next phase, in 100 days, is to stabilise that grid.”

‎‎‎Tegbe also discussed broader reforms involving metering, tariff structures, sector liquidity, gas supply, and electricity market sustainability, indicating that some structural challenges would require longer-term interventions.

‎‎What The Spokesperson Said:

‎‎In the rebuttal press release, the spokesperson stated: “Mr Tegbe made no such commitment. He stated unequivocally that the timelines are still being worked and subject to diagnostics and stakeholder engagements.”

The statement further noted that: “Initial grid stabilisation efforts would commence within the first 100 days,” while broader reforms in the sector could take about a year.

‎‎‎The release also quoted Tegbe’s promise that Nigerians would see “visible improvement in the sector.”

‎‎However, the statement omitted his follow-up remark: “If you don’t see this in three months, it means you won’t see it in six months.”

‎‎‎‎Findings

‎‎The fact check found that the spokesperson’s rebuttal is misleading.

‎‎The transcript confirms that Tegbe never explicitly promised to completely eliminate grid collapse within three months. Therefore, headlines suggesting he categorically vowed to “fix grid collapse in three months” overstated his exact words.

‎‎However, Tegbe unmistakably tied public expectations to a three-month performance window by promising “visible improvement” and urging Nigerians to hold him accountable if such progress was not seen within that period.

‎‎His additional statement about stabilising the grid within 100 days reasonably reinforced public interpretation that the administration intended to achieve measurable progress on grid reliability within roughly three months.

‎‎By excluding Tegbe’s strongest timeline-based comments, the spokesperson’s rebuttal presented a softer interpretation of the original remarks.

‎Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe did not explicitly state that he would completely end grid collapse within three months.

‎‎However, he clearly promised visible improvements in the power sector within that timeframe and linked his first 100 days to efforts aimed at stabilising the national grid.

‎‎The spokesperson’s statement attempted to correct the interpretation of Tegbe’s remarks but omitted key portions of the transcript that strengthened the public perception of a three-month commitment to grid stability.

Going forward let the handlers of the minister’s public acuities make sure they record every of his statement during his service period as Honourable Minister of Power, to avoid another inglorious rebuttal that will do him more harm than good.

End

QUOTE

Going forward let the handlers of the minister’s public acuities make sure they record every of his statement during his service period as Honourable Minister of Power, to avoid another inglorious rebuttal that will do him more harm than good.