It’s been eight (8) years since the Nigerian government unbundled its electricity sector (learn more). This move was aimed at attracting investors from around the world into its supply industry to generate income for the sector and provide steady electricity to its citizens.
A population of over 200 million people has struggled without an end for improved electricity before and after the privatisation exercise. However, it seems we are moving in circles. Quite alright is the fact that the privatisation led to the increase in generation capacity from 4,000MW to 12,552MW; a more than significant progress, but not up to half of this electricity generated is being transmitted and a lesser percentage is distributed.
Now and then, it’s either grid collapse or a fault in the transmission network but there is always a story to tell. Nigerians have experienced power grid failure more than 126 times since the country’s power sector was privatised. This sad and continuous occurrence has resulted in several businesses shutting down and others incurring extra expenses by relying on generators. It’s no longer a thing shock that offices owned by electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are being powered by generating sets.
The Energy Architecture Performance Index (EAPI) published in 2017 ranked Nigeria 110th among 127 countries with several African countries like Congo, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia, and Cameroon ranked far better in terms of performance.
Lately, from those who had the complete belief of the Nigerian people, like the late Chief Bola Ige, through to Prof. Barth Nnaji and more recently, Mr. Babatunde Fashola to the others in this line, the frustrating story to transform the electricity industry has been the same. The challenges of the power sector have several layers with many contrasting sides, but past and present leader’s attempts, mostly perfunctory, have not resulted in any marked changes, save for blame games. With these, the Nigerian electricity sector has come undone.