The federal government has officially announced the end of fuel and foreign exchange subsidies.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, made this declaration during the presentation of the Nigeria Development Update by the World Bank in Abuja on Thursday, October 17.

Edun revealed that these subsidies had drained the country’s economy, costing over N10 trillion, which amounts to five percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Fuel and FX subsidy are extinguished. The key thing here is that for the first time in 40 years, the vex tissue of fuel subsidy, and linked to it, the foreign exchange subsidy, costing five percent of GDP has gone,” he said.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, says that Nigerians have ‘stopped’ complaining about the hike in petrol price because they no longer need it to run their generators due to constant electricity supply.

The minister stated this while speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, October 15. Last week, the NNPCL increased the pump price of petrol at its retail outlets from N868 per litre to N968 per litre in Lagos and above N1000 in some other regions. The astronomical rise in the price of petrol led to the sharp increase in the cost of transportation, food items and other essential household commodities in Nigeria.

During the conference, Adelabu said;

“People don’t need to buy petrol again as much as they used to do for them to have power. That’s why the noise is even at this level. If they had to be going to the filling stations to buy N1000 per litre of petrol to generate electricity, we would have even had louder noise from the public.

So, what we intend to do is to make sure that all the generators are replaced in line with Lagos State Policy of Replacement of 1 Million Generators in One Year. I saw that. We must replace all the generators.”

In the same breathe, the minister lamented Nigeria’s abysmal performance in the area of power generation, stating that the country added only 2000 megawatts of power to the national grid in the last 40 years dating back to 1984.

“But we are over 200 million people, we are still celebrating achieving 5000MW milestone. Why this seems to be an achievement is because it took us almost 40 years to generate additional 2000MW from the 2000MW milestone we achieved in 1984. When we came to the office, we met 4000MW.

Now, we have taken it to average of 5000MW, with a peak of 5,527MW on the third of September. But we are not deterred. If the last best time was 50 years ago, I believe the next best time is today, and this must wake us up. So, it’s an issue I don’t like to remember”, he said

Adedeji Adeleke, Davido’s father, is indeed a powerhouse in Nigeria’s business scene. As the CEO of Pacific Holdings Limited, he’s been making waves in various industries.

Now David’s father is taking on the energy sector with an impressive project – building the largest thermal power plant in Nigeria, valued at $2 billion and set to launch in January 2025.

Ekwutosblog gathered that his  new venture will reportedly generate about 15% of the electricity used in Nigeria, significantly contributing to the country’s power needs.

Given Adedeji Adeleke’s track record as a successful entrepreneur, it’s no surprise he’s taking on this ambitious project.

Some of Nigeria’s current top thermal power plants include:

•⁠ ⁠_Egbin Power Station_: a 1,320MW thermal power project located in Lagos
•⁠ ⁠_Alaoji Power Station_: a 1,074MW thermal power project located in Abia
•⁠ ⁠_Afam Power Station I-V_: a 987.20MW thermal project located in Rivers
•⁠ ⁠_Ughelli Delta Power Plant_: a 964.68MW thermal project located in Delta
•⁠ ⁠_Olorunsogo II Power Plant_: a 750MW thermal project located in Ogun

Adedeji Adeleke’s new power plant will likely join this list, further solidifying his impact on Nigeria’s energy landscape.