Tinubu government says it is not its wish to plunge Nigerians into darkness, blaming the crippling and recurring power outages across the country on “factors beyond its control”.

“It’s not our wish to find ourselves in this situation. It is due to factors that are beyond our control,” stated the minister of power, Adebayo Adelabu, in a press conference held in Abuja on Tuesday.

Mr Adelabu, who admitted the blackout has deepened hardship across homes, businesses, schools and industries, tendered his public apology to Nigerians over the situation.

He added, “We want to apologise to the generality of Nigerians officially now for this temporary issue leading to hardship being experienced, especially during this period of much heat, as schools, businesses, and industries are being affected.”

Noting that power generation, transmission, and distribution were considerably better last year, the minister said efforts are ongoing to address the situation.

“But we are not relenting. We are working on it 24/7 to make sure that we go back to the trend and trajectory of 2025, whereby you praised and commended us for a good job well done.

“And we can imagine if we could provide such service in 2025, this is 2026, where we’ll willingly do more and better as we are close to the election year. Except we can’t find it, that is why we find ourselves here,” Mr Adelabu explained.

The minister promised to achieve 6,000 megawatts before the end of the year, assuring Nigerians of improved generation, transmission and distribution across the country.

Mr Adelabu’s public apology and promise came amid public frustration over the country’s epileptic power supply, particularly as soaring temperatures have increased electricity demand.