The presidential candidate of the National Rescue Movement, Esther Okereke, has pledged to raise Nigeria’s electricity generation to 25,000MW within her first 100 days in office if elected president in 2027.
Okereke, a Nollywood actress and humanitarian, said tackling the power crisis would be her first priority, arguing that reliable electricity would help expose and address other challenges, including insecurity.
Speaking on Arise TV on Wednesday night, she said Nigeria already had the professionals needed to fix the power sector, but that they needed the right mandate and support to deliver results.
“First is to take out the darkness in the system, because when you take out the darkness, you can see. Then you secure the system with security. Fix electricity by taking out the darkness so you can see the security issues and tackle them. In 100 days, we should achieve 25,000 megawatts. It is very possible.
“What is actually stopping us from doing it when we know we can do it? That’s corruption. That’s one thing we should fight against: corruption. Because somebody has their own personal interest in a particular thing, so they make sure it doesn’t work. We can make it work if we want it to work.
“If as the president, you are the minister for energy and I give you 100 days to give me power, and you have sworn to the people that you would do this before you were put in that office, if you can’t do it, you step down so that somebody else that can do it will do it. What is holding us, stopping us, restraining us, if not personal interest?”, she quizzed.
Okereke said her administration would pursue renewable energy and decentralised power generation while tackling corruption and personal interests in the sector.
