By Inyali Peter, PhD
After days of speculation, Minister of Power Chief Adebayo Adelabu resigned his appointment yesterday to pursue his governorship ambition in Oyo State, effective April 30, 2026. In his letter to the President, he proposed the creation of a Ministry of Energy, a recommendation that goes to the heart of one of the most critical structural gaps in Nigeria’s energy governance.
Clearly, anyone with a fair understanding of Nigeria’s power sector knows that this reform is long overdue. However, successive administrations have hesitated, largely due to concerns that such a ministry could concentrate too much power in a single office. That fear, however, has come at a huge cost to the country.
From my early days in the sector as an aide to the Minister of State, Power, it was evident that Nigeria’s energy sector is too interconnected to be managed in silos. The country has lost valuable investment opportunities due to poor coordination, particularly between the power and petroleum sectors, where gas supply remains the backbone of electricity generation.
But the fragmentation goes even deeper. Nigeria’s energy resources are scattered across multiple ministries; coal sits under solid minerals, hydro under water resources, gas under petroleum, and solar within the power sector. Despite this administrative separation, they are all components of a single energy ecosystem, each playing a role in electricity generation and national energy security.
Coal can power thermal plants, hydropower depends on dam infrastructure, gas fuels the majority of Nigeria’s power plants, and solar represents the future of distributed and renewable energy. But, these resources are governed independently, often without alignment in planning, investment, or execution. The result is inefficiency, policy inconsistency, and a weakened capacity to deliver reliable power.
What Nigeria needs is a unified Ministry of Energy that brings all these components, coal, hydro, gas, and renewables under one coordinated authority. Energy is not just about electricity; it is a complete value chain that runs from resource extraction to generation, transmission, and distribution. Managing it through fragmented institutions breeds inefficiency and slows progress.
The ongoing challenges in the electricity sector, particularly around gas supply, illustrate this dysfunction. While often framed as issues of supply shortages or payment defaults, the deeper problem lies in the absence of a unified command structure and a single, accountable reporting line. These are structural defects that cannot be fixed within the current arrangement.
This idea is not new. When former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai was considered for ministerial appointment, it was rumoured that he proposed a similar reform. Several stakeholders and public policy experts like Dr Joe Abah have also advocated for it. Now, with the outgoing Power Minister adding his voice, the call has gained renewed urgency.
President Bola Tinubu is a revolutionary figure who has introduced very tough but necessary reforms to transform the economy. But Nigeria’s economy will struggle to make the needed impact without clean, reliable and affordable electricity. Therefore, the President has a unique opportunity to correct the longstanding anomaly by uniting the energy industry.
Frankly, Nigeria cannot continue to treat interconnected energy resources as isolated sectors. The global trend supports this call. Countries are moving towards integrated energy planning to maximise efficiency, attract investment, and ensure sustainability.
Even at the subnational level, states seeking to participate actively in the electricity market must adopt this model. Establishing a single coordinating authority for energy is not optional, it is a necessity for coherence, efficiency, and coordination.
To create a more efficient environment to address electricity challenges, debate on the creation of a Ministry of Energy should no longer be treated as just a policy suggestion but an economic and strategic necessity.
