High Level Reasons Tony Elumelu Is Fronting Quick Fix Of Nigeria’s Power Sector

One of Africa’s leading investors and philanthropists, Tony Elumelu, is at the heart of a major push.

The prominent champion of entrepreneurship, who declared that “access to electricity remains the single most critical factor in fixing the Nigerian economy,” wants the federal government to quickly fix the power sector before it collapses.

Mr. Elumelu, who made the call at the 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Transnational Corporation (Transcorp Group) on April 9, 2025, pointed out that “the dominant challenges of the power sector—namely, liquidity, infrastructure, and gas availability—remain unresolved 12 years after some of us invested heavily in this sector. As at date, our federal government owes your company over N600 billion ($400 million).”

The N600 billion is part of the N4 trillion the Nigerian government owes electricity generation companies (GenCos) and distribution companies (DisCos).

“This crippling debt is unsustainable for private investors and poses a risk to continued electricity generation,” industry experts say.

Transcorp, with Elumelu as chairman, is a major contributor to the nation’s power supply. Transcorp Power generates almost 1,000 MW—out of the less than 5,000 MW consumed by the entire country—from its stations: Transcorp Power Ughelli (625 MW) and TransAfam (305 MW).

The unresolved challenges of liquidity, gas supply, and infrastructure have proven major factors preventing Transcorp Power Ughelli, which has an installed capacity of 1,000 MW, and TransAfam, with another 1,000 MW capacity, from achieving their combined output of 2,000 MW. Same with other GenCos.

The implication is that with less than 5,000 MW currently supplied to over 200 million people, the sector is critically underperforming, and Elumelu warns that without urgent intervention, the entire system risks collapse—with severe consequences for national development.

The strong advocate of a better Nigeria sees power as the foundation for industrialization, job creation, and non-oil sector growth, emphasizing that without stable electricity, Nigeria’s broader economic reforms and aspirations will be hollow.

“We must therefore fix power to fix and transform Nigeria,” the master entrepreneur stated explicitly.

He, however, pointed out that Transcorp and other GenCos are operating under an “excruciating burden” to make things work despite the mountain of debt the Federal Government owes them.

“Much as we, as patriotic Nigerian investors, are committed to supporting the efforts of the Federal Government in fixing the Nigerian economy, we have been under the excruciating burden of subsidising the sector as producers who do not get paid for the electricity we generate; we put it on the grid and it is consumed on the grid,” one of the major contributors to the nation’s economy declared.

Although he acknowledged President Bola Tinubu’s debt repayment plan and reforms, Elumelu insists that “ruthless, result-oriented, and timely execution” is urgently needed to avoid disaster.

“While the intentions behind these initiatives are very good, these intentions can only be achieved through ruthless, result-oriented, and timely execution of the initiatives before this sector collapses in front of our every eye with its attendant consequences,” the proponent of Africapitalism—which positions the private sector, and mostly entrepreneurs, as the catalyst for the social and economic development of Africa—stated and added, “Let me therefore use this opportunity of our AGM to call on all those involved in executing our president’s directives on this initiative to please prioritise this critical national task immediately.”

The AGM—held at the industry pathfinder that has placed Nigeria on the global tourism map with its 5,000-capacity event centre and related values, Transcorp Hotel Abuja—revealed how far Transcorp Group, which was valued at less than N20 billion when Elumelu and his team took over in 2011, has come.

One of Nigeria’s largest quoted conglomerates, its listed entities are now valued at N4.5 trillion (N3 billion), with Transcorp Ughelli Power, which went public last year (2024), estimated in excess of N2.7 trillion.

The group’s subsidiaries, Transcorp Hotels and Transcorp Power, are widely recognized market leaders in their sectors based on far-reaching impact and exemplary performances.

Elumelu started the push for a quick fix before the power generating companies unified approach highlighting possible nationwide blackout.