Ben Bruce Calls for Radical Overhaul of Nigeria’s Power Sector

Former Nigerian senator and Silverbird Group founder Ben Murray-Bruce has called for a fundamental overhaul of Nigeria’s electricity sector, arguing that the country’s 2013 power privatisation has completely failed to deliver reliable energy to its citizens.

In an open letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu, titled “Open Letter to Mr President: Start the Dance on Electricity. The Privatization Failed. The Owners Are Billing Darkness,” Murray-Bruce launched a scathing attack on the performance of generation and distribution companies while proposing a bold shift toward decentralised, community-based power systems.

Citing figures published by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Murray-Bruce highlighted the massive deficit between installed capacity and actual supply, noting that out of 13,625 megawatts of installed generation capacity, a mere 4,286 megawatts was available for dispatch—with just ten plants generating 81 per cent of the country’s entire output.

He pointed to a dramatic collapse where grid generation plummeted to 1,132 megawatts in a single evening, leaving twelve major stations completely idle. “That is not an industry,” he wrote. “That is a rumour of an industry.”

Bruce Blames the 2013 Privatisation

At the centre of the former senator’s argument is his indictment of the 2013 power sector privatisation, which he characterises not as genuine reform, but as a flawed transfer of custody to undercapitalised domestic consortia relying on local bank loans.

He contends that the assets should have been sold to major international operators with deep technical capacity and balance sheets measured in billions of dollars. Instead, public liabilities have mounted, with GenCos owed over ₦7 trillion, the Federal Government floating a ₦4 trillion bond programme, and roughly ₦10 trillion in public interventions absorbed over thirteen years without keeping the lights on.

The DisCos and the Metering Problem

Turning his focus to electricity distribution companies, Murray-Bruce highlighted regulatory figures showing that 5.1 million out of 12.31 million active customers—over 41 per cent—remain unmetered, even as DisCos collected ₦801.16 billion over a four-month period.

He described estimated billing as an unfair levy enforced through state-granted monopoly power, while warning GenCos that they cannot act as private corporations when tariffs rise but demand public charity when invoices fall due.

His Alternative: Decentralised Power

Rather than attempting to power 240 million people from one wire, Murray-Bruce proposes decentralising power generation down to estates, wards, and local communities.

Citing Lagos’s Dolphin Estate as a working blueprint, he outlines a model where community associations secure bank financing—guaranteed by state governments—to build metered solar infrastructure, billing residents at cost plus a regulated 25 per cent margin. Replicating this model nationwide, he argues, would spawn a new class of clean-energy entrepreneurs across every local government area.

The Role of States

Murray-Bruce emphasizes that the legal path is already clear following the passage of the Electricity Act of 2023, which he argues has opened greater room for states to regulate and develop their electricity markets.

Under his proposed framework, state governments would use solar systems to power streetlights, healthcare centres, primary schools, and other public infrastructure, while the Federal Government would focus on federal institutions and national infrastructure. He also pointed to the World Bank’s estimate of the annual economic cost of unreliable electricity as evidence that Nigerians are already spending heavily to secure alternative power.

Why He Points to Aba

To demonstrate what he believes decentralised generation can achieve, Murray-Bruce pointed to Geometric Power’s 188-megawatt integrated system in Aba, which he said kept power flowing to about 900,000 people during a national grid collapse.

“One city solved it,” he wrote. “Not with a policy paper. With a plant and a meter.”

Bruce’s Challenge to Tinubu

Murray-Bruce called on President Tinubu to lead the reset, while urging citizens to stop blaming Aso Rock for local outages and instead hold state governors and local authorities accountable for the powers available to them under the current electricity framework.

By fully embracing decentralised off-grid solutions and implementing the Electricity Act, Murray-Bruce asserts that 70 per cent of Nigeria will have power within four years.