Sekinat Osundiji
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has promised to deliver uninterrupted electricity across Nigeria within three years if elected president in the 2027 general election.
Sowore said his administration would dismantle the existing national electricity grid and replace it with regional grids powered by a mix of solar, gas, hydro and biogas.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Sowore said Nigeria would require more than 60,000 megawatts of electricity to restore the economy to a productive level, adding that he had developed a plan to achieve uninterrupted power supply within three years.
“I will give you that in less than three years and I mean it. I’m serious. I have done my research and I figured out how it will work and I know what to do to change it and which is what to put where,” he said.
Sowore said the country’s electricity system must be decentralised to enable different regions to generate and distribute power based on their resources.
“I hate the national grid by name and by practice and by existence. I will take it apart so that you have regional grid and you have different mixings of electrical generation supply,” he said.
According to him, the proposed system would combine solar, gas, hydro and biogas generation, while allowing individuals to generate electricity from solar panels installed on their homes and sell excess power to neighbours or regional electricity bodies.
Sowore linked the power crisis to Nigeria’s weak industrial capacity, arguing that local businesses cannot compete with imported goods when production costs remain high because of unreliable electricity.
He cited the example of locally produced Ankara, saying it could be cheaper to import fabric made in China than produce it in Nigeria because of the cost and availability of electricity.
The AAC candidate also said improving electricity supply would create jobs through the construction and expansion of generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.
His electricity pledge comes alongside his previously stated proposal for a ₦500,000 monthly living minimum wage for Nigerian workers if elected.
On healthcare, Sowore said his administration would combine physical healthcare infrastructure with technology, including telemedicine, to address the country’s medical challenges and reduce medical tourism.
He said Nigerian doctors living abroad could provide consultations remotely to patients in Nigeria, while doctors on the ground could conduct tests and provide the necessary medical information.
Sowore also said Nigeria must improve the condition of its healthcare facilities so that tertiary institutions would no longer be overwhelmed by cases that could be handled at primary healthcare centres.
He further said he would not seek medical treatment abroad if elected president, insisting that any ailment he could not treat in Nigeria should be allowed to take its course.
On the proposed ₦500,000 minimum wage, Sowore said his administration would fund the policy by cutting government waste, blocking leakages, recovering unpaid oil royalties and ending what he described as unnecessary government spending.
He also proposed the use of blockchain technology to monitor government revenue and expenditure in real time.
Sowore said the proposed wage was necessary to ensure that Nigerian workers could afford basic necessities and argued that better wages would increase economic activity.
He also promised to provide 24-hour electricity, free education, one million public mixed-income homes and reforms to reduce the burden of advance rent payments if elected.
The AAC candidate is seeking the presidency in the 2027 general election, with the party presenting its programme around economic reform, public services, workers’ welfare and infrastructure development.
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