Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has promised to abolish Nigeria’s five-band electricity tariff system if elected president, accusing President Bola Tinubu of failing to fulfil his campaign promise of providing Nigerians with constant electricity.
Gatekeepers News reports that Atiku made the remarks in a statement issued on Sunday, November 1, 2026, by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communication of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Presidential Campaign Council.
The former vice-president was reacting to comments by the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council defending the Tinubu administration’s efforts to address challenges in the power sector.
Atiku accused the ruling party of attempting to divert attention from the country’s persistent electricity crisis by highlighting government policies, legislation, bond programmes and infrastructure projects.
He said households and businesses continued to struggle with unreliable electricity supply despite spending heavily on alternative sources of power.
“The APC should spare Nigerians the spectacle of celebrating paperwork while homes and businesses remain in darkness,” Atiku said.
He recalled Tinubu’s campaign promise ahead of the 2023 presidential election, when the President reportedly challenged Nigerians not to re-elect him if he failed to provide constant electricity within four years.
“If I don’t give you constant electricity for four years, when I come back for a second term, don’t vote for me,” Tinubu had said.
Atiku argued that Nigerians had now lived through the period covered by the promise and deserved explanations for the continued poor electricity supply.
The former vice-president also faulted the existing electricity tariff structure, which categorises consumers into Bands A, B, C, D and E based on their designated electricity supply hours.
He noted that some Band A customers pay approximately N209.50 per kilowatt-hour before Value Added Tax (VAT), while consumers in other categories pay different rates depending on their locations and electricity distribution companies.
According to him, customers continue to face unreliable supply despite paying varying electricity tariffs.
“Yet across every band, the same hardship endures: the power fails, but the bill arrives,” he said.
Atiku further questioned the Federal Government’s plan to end electricity subsidies from 2027, demanding clarification on how the proposed policy would affect consumers’ electricity bills.
He also raised concerns about VAT on electricity and a proposed five per cent surcharge on certain fossil fuels, including petrol and diesel, under the Nigeria Tax Act.
On the administration’s multitrillion-naira bond programme aimed at settling outstanding debts owed to electricity generation companies and gas suppliers, Atiku argued that clearing legacy debts was different from expanding the country’s power generation capacity.
“Paying old debts is not the same as building new power infrastructure. Bonds cannot be presented as a substitute for power in people’s homes,” he said.
He also alleged that the Tinubu administration had not constructed new power generation infrastructure of its own to significantly increase Nigeria’s electricity capacity.
Atiku pledged to work with state governments and relevant regulators to replace the existing tariff classification with what he described as a fairer, transparent and affordable framework.
He said the proposed arrangement would protect households and ensure electricity distribution companies were held accountable for the quality and quantity of power supplied to consumers.
Meanwhile, APC Presidential Campaign Council spokesman Dele Alake defended the administration’s record, citing the Electricity Act 2023, the N4 trillion power-sector debt settlement programme, metering initiatives and transmission infrastructure projects.
Alake maintained that the government was addressing longstanding challenges in the electricity sector through regulatory and financial reforms.
He also said the administration had introduced measures to expand electricity access and improve the financial stability of the power market.
However, Atiku insisted that government policies and project announcements should be measured by their impact on electricity supply to Nigerian homes and businesses.
