25,000MW in 100 Days? Esther Okereke's Power Promise Raises Eyebrows

Photo: The Punch

Another Day, Another Big Power Promise in Nigeria

E don happen again, people. Another Nigerian politician don climb the podium, grab the microphone, and make a promise about electricity that will make your generator mechanic laugh until him belly pain am. This time, it is Esther Okereke, the NRM presidential candidate, who has looked Nigerians straight in the eye and promised to generate 25,000 megawatts of electricity within her first 100 days in office if she wins the 2027 presidential election. Chai! Na so? One hundred days? Omo, let us sit down and have a proper conversation about this one.

The Numbers Don't Lie — But Politicians Often Do

Before we get carried away with excitement, let us check the scoreboard. As of today, Nigeria — a country of over 220 million people and one of the largest economies on the African continent — is generating somewhere around 4,000 megawatts of electricity on a good day. Some days, it drops even lower. Meanwhile, South Africa, with a population roughly one-quarter of ours, has an installed capacity of over 50,000MW. So when someone tells you they will jump Nigeria from approximately 4,000MW to 25,000MW in just 100 days, you have every right to furrow your brow and ask serious questions.

To put it in perspective for you: 25,000MW would mean Nigeria needs to add roughly 21,000 additional megawatts of generating capacity in about three months. That is five times what we currently produce. Power infrastructure experts will tell you that even under the most aggressive conditions, building and commissioning new generation capacity takes years — not days. You need land acquisition, environmental impact assessments, equipment procurement, installation, testing, grid integration, and transmission upgrades. These things do not happen by pressing a button, no matter how powerful the president sitting in Aso Rock is.

A Walk Down Memory Lane: Nigeria's History of Power Lies

See, the thing that makes this promise particularly painful is that we have been here before — many, many times. Let us do a quick history lesson so nobody will come and say we are being unfair to Madam Okereke alone.

• Olusegun Obasanjo spent billions of dollars on the power sector during his two terms between 1999 and 2007. The money was spent. The darkness remained. A probe later revealed massive corruption in the sector.
• Umaru Yar'Adua declared a state of emergency on power in 2008 and promised transformation. By the time he left office, Nigerians were still buying fuel for their generators like it was a national pastime.
• Goodluck Jonathan privatised the sector in 2013, assuring Nigerians that handing the DISCOs and GENCOs to private operators would fix everything. A decade later, the sector is still in intensive care.
• Muhammadu Buhari promised uninterrupted power supply during his campaigns. His administration came, saw, and... well, you know the rest. Your neighbours generator still wakes you up at midnight.
• Bola Tinubu is currently presiding over one of the most embarrassing collapses of the national grid in recent memory, with multiple grid failures in 2024 alone leaving Nigerians in total blackout.

So you see, the promise of electricity has become almost like a rite of passage for Nigerian politicians. It is the go-to campaign pledge because every Nigerian — from the market woman in Onitsha to the banker in Lagos Island — feels the pain of epileptic power supply every single day. It is an easy emotional button to press. Whether it can actually be fixed in 100 days is an entirely different matter.

What Would It Actually Take?

Let us be fair and ask: is 25,000MW even theoretically achievable? Nigeria has enormous potential. We have natural gas reserves that could power multiple countries. We have solar irradiation that renewable energy companies drool over. We have the Niger River and its tributaries for hydroelectric development. The raw ingredients are there. But turning those ingredients into actual megawatts on the national grid requires massive investment, institutional reform, technical expertise, and above all, time.

Energy analysts suggest that for Nigeria to realistically hit even 10,000MW of stable, deliverable power, we would need sustained investment of tens of billions of dollars, fundamental reforms to how electricity tariffs are structured, fixing the transmission infrastructure that currently cannot even wheel the power we already generate, and tackling the gas supply problems that keep our thermal plants running at a fraction of their installed capacity. None of these things happen in 100 days. Even if you had unlimited money on Day One, the logistics alone would stretch into years.

Give Credit Where It Is Due — But Demand Specifics

Now, to be fair to Esther Okereke and her NRM party, we will acknowledge that ambition is not a crime. Every country needs leaders who dare to dream big and set bold targets. Perhaps the 25,000MW figure is meant to signal intent — a north star to guide policy direction rather than a literal 100-day engineering project. If that is the case, then the messaging team needs to go back to the drawing board, because Nigerians are not in the mood for vague inspiration. We want specifics. How? With whose money? Which contractors? Which gas fields will supply the plants? Who will fix the transmission lines? What happens to the existing DISCOs that are already struggling?

These are not trick questions. They are the minimum requirements for a power promise to be taken seriously in a country that has been burned by empty electricity pledges for over six decades.

The Verdict: Shine Your Eyes, Nigeria

As 2027 approaches and the campaign season heats up, you will hear many more big promises — about roads, about education, about security, and yes, about power. The job of every informed Nigerian voter is to demand details, compare promises with track records, and refuse to be swayed by megawatt numbers that sound impressive but have no concrete plan behind them.

Esther Okereke and the NRM have a chance to distinguish themselves. Instead of a headline number, show us the blueprint. Show us the financing model. Show us the engineering roadmap. Show us why this time will be different from every other time. Until then, Nigerians will keep doing what we have always done — buying fuel, managing our inverters, and praying that NEPA — sorry, EEDC — gives us light before the food in the freezer spoils.

The electricity struggle is real. The promises? Those are even more abundant than our blackouts.