President Bola Tinubu has named former Power Minister Rilwan Babalola as Special Adviser and Chairman of a high-powered taskforce mandated to restore commercial viability to Nigeria’s electricity sector.
ABUJA – In a major move to address persistent bottlenecks in the electricity value chain, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Mr. Rilwan Babalola as his Special Adviser on Power. Mr. Babalola will also serve as the Chairman of the newly established Presidential Taskforce on Power Sector Reset and Restoration.
The announcement, contained in a statement by Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Bayo Onanuga on Thursday, highlights a strategic reorganization of energy governance. As part of this streamlining effort, the President also redesignated the Office of the Special Adviser (Energy) to Special Adviser (Oil and Gas) to ensure clearer role differentiation within the administration.
Mr. Babalola, who served previously as a Minister of Power, is expected to leverage his deep sectoral expertise to lead a “results-oriented reset” of the industry. The Presidential Taskforce has been given a direct mandate to restore discipline, efficiency, and commercial viability across the sector.
According to the Presidency, the Taskforce will operate under a “performance before expansion” framework. This strategy prioritizes fixing the existing infrastructure and systemic leakages before committing to large-scale expansion projects. Key objectives include: Reducing technical, commercial, and collection losses, Strengthening cost discipline and maintaining tariff integrity, Enhancing revenue assurance and sector liquidity, Restoring grid discipline and market integrity.
The Taskforce is not intended to be a permanent bureaucracy but a high-impact intervention body. It is required to coordinate activities among various ministries, departments, and agencies to develop Electricity Growth Zones and promote the productive use of power.
Crucially, the President has mandated the Taskforce to deliver a 90-day implementation blueprint for immediate action. President Tinubu charged Babalola to approach the assignment with a sense of urgency and strong execution, emphasizing that the ultimate goal is to deliver measurable, visible improvements in power supply for all Nigerians.
This appointment comes just a day after the President nominated Mr. Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe as the Minister of Power, signaling a comprehensive leadership overhaul intended to stabilize the national grid and reduce the government’s fiscal exposure to the sector.
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