Christmas Day Blackout: Electricity Consumer Group Calls for Power Minister’s Resignation

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka

A civil society group, the Electricity Consumer Rights Network (ECRN), has called for the resignation of the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, following the widespread electricity outage that plunged many parts of the country into darkness on Christmas Day.

The call was contained in a statement issued yesterday by the Convener of the network, Comrade Osita Obi, who described the near-national blackout during the festive period as “a monumental failure of leadership” in the power sector.

According to Obi, the minister should not only resign but also tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians for what he described as the denial of stable electricity at a time traditionally associated with celebration, family gatherings and increased economic activity.

“The Minister of Power should resign and apologise to Nigerians for giving them darkness instead of light during this festive period,” the statement said, adding, “In a civilised clime, he should not wait to be asked before throwing in the towel. There is no clear vision or capacity to lead a strategic ministry like the power ministry. He is a square peg in a round hole.”

Obi urged the federal government to move beyond what he termed “ritual excuses” and take decisive action to reform the power sector, stressing that electricity remains central to economic growth, industrial productivity and the overall quality of life of citizens.

He also called for greater accountability from the Ministry of Power and its relevant agencies, insisting that Nigerians deserve transparent and timely explanations whenever nationwide outages occur, especially during critical periods such as major public holidays.

The Christmas Day outage affected several states across the federation, with households, hospitals, places of worship and small businesses forced to rely heavily on generators .

Many electricity consumers complained that the blackout disrupted holiday activities and worsened the financial burden on families already grappling with inflation and the high cost of living.

Power sector analysts say the incident once again highlights Nigeria’s longstanding electricity challenges, including weak transmission infrastructure, poor grid management, inadequate generation capacity and recurring system collapses.

Despite repeated assurances by successive administrations, the national grid has continued to experience instability, with partial or total blackouts recorded several times this year.

As of the time of filing this report, the Ministry of Power had not issued an official response to the statement.

However, officials of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had, in the past, attributed similar outages to technical faults, vandalism and systemic constraints within the national grid.

The Obi-led ECRN said it would continue to mobilise electricity consumers nationwide to demand improved service delivery, accountability and a clear roadmap for achieving stable and reliable power supply in the country.