Following the World Bank’s report on the situation of electricity access in Nigeria, there has been a response from the federal government. The report announced Nigeria as having overtaken the Republic of Congo as the country with the highest number of people without electricity, with one in every ten people without electricity living in Nigeria. The FG has rejected the claims of the report as untrue. Now isn’t this a typical case of biting the hand that feeds you?
The World Bank has been known to support Nigeria with funds in a bid to try and improve her electricity sector. In fact, under the Power Sector Recovery Program, the World Bank has granted the country $1.25 billion, to invest in the electricity sector. However, the Federal Government has released a statement disclaiming the findings from the report by the World Bank.
In a statement by Ahmed Zakari, the Special Adviser to the president on Infrastructure, the Federal Government accused the findings from the report for being false, and questioned the data used in the report. The government added that the energy sent to the Distribution Companies (DisCos) had greatly increased, hence, a progress in electricity supply.
The Federal Government has said that according to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), only electricity consumers in bands D and E get less than twelve (12) hours of electricity. This statement was made to oppose the report’s finding that about 78% of consumers receive less than 12 hours of electricity supply.
But with most of Nigerians not getting up to twelve hours of electricity supply despite the tariff band they may fall under, does that not make the World Bank’s report true? And in a bid to cover the inefficiencies of the sector, isn’t the government’s denial game a classic case of biting the hand that feeds you?
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