The Federal Government has inaugurated a Gas-to-Power Monitoring Committee charged with addressing the persistent gas supply disruptions that have crippled electricity generation in Nigeria, describing the initiative as a decisive intervention to resolve one of the most stubborn and damaging constraints confronting the country's electricity supply industry.
The inauguration took place in Abuja and was presided over by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who explained that the move followed deliberations at the first quarter 2026 Ministerial Power Sector Working Group meeting, where key challenges threatening the stability of the country's power supply were examined in detail. The minister said the committee was constituted specifically to drive the resolution of critical bottlenecks that had for too long prevented gas from flowing reliably to the power plants that depended on it to generate electricity for millions of Nigerians.
The urgency of the committee's mandate is underscored by a crisis that erupted in January when gas companies drastically reduced the volume of gas supplied to power generation companies, citing an outstanding debt of approximately 1.3 billion dollars owed to them by the power sector. The reduction in gas supply triggered a sharp drop in electricity generation to the national grid, deepening the already severe power shortages that have hampered homes, businesses and industrial activity across the country.
Adelabu, who spoke through a statement by his media aide, Bolaji Tunji, noted that gas-fired power plants account for roughly 80 per cent of Nigeria's electricity generation capacity, making the reliable supply of gas to those plants a matter of national economic importance. Yet, he said, those plants had continued to suffer from a combination of supply disruptions, pipeline vandalism, mounting debts to gas producers and weak coordination across the entire gas-to-power value chain, problems that the newly inaugurated committee was expected to tackle head on.
He charged committee members to go beyond routine monitoring and provide proactive, data-driven recommendations, particularly on mechanisms to guarantee payment for gas supplies and ensure the long-term sustainability of the sector. He made clear that the committee would be held strictly accountable for measurable progress, with expectations set for regular reporting, clear milestones and timely escalation of issues requiring direct government intervention.
The committee draws its membership from a broad cross-section of stakeholders across the gas-to-power value chain, including the Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Independent System Operator, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, the Association of Generation Companies, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company, the Nigerian Gas Association and consumer advocacy groups.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Power, Alhaji Mahmuda Mamman, represented at the ceremony by the Director of Distribution, said the inauguration was in direct response to the minister's directive to tackle the gas supply challenges with the urgency they demanded. He identified infrastructure deficits, pipeline vandalism, liquidity constraints and poor coordination among the various actors in the sector as the major obstacles that had consistently undermined electricity generation and held back the country's economic growth.
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