There’s a popular phrase among Nigerian citizens where they pride themselves for always coming first, or as the phrase interprets, for never “carrying last”. However, the country may have taken the “Nigeria nor dey carry last” mantra a little bit too far.
According to the latest report by the World Bank, Nigeria has overtaken the Republic of Congo on the list of countries with the highest number of people without electricity in the world. The report was presented by the World Bank’s Practice Manager for West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna, during a virtual meeting.
According to the report, every one in ten people without access to electricity in the world, now reside in Nigeria. Agreeably, this is not a very good ‘competition’ to not carry last in. the report went further to state how 78% of electricity consumers in the country receive less than 12 hours of electricity supply. Also, that there are 74% of dissatisfied citizens and 82% of consumers who do not know the tariff band they fall under.
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A previous report by the World Bank showed that Nigeria loses $29 billion every year to unreliable electricity. With all these reports on the poor state of the Nigeria electricity sector, one begins to wonder: at what point would the country stop the ‘Nigeria nor dey carry last’ rhetoric, because recently she has not been carrying last in negatives? At what point would unstable electricity be a pastime in the country? What steps can be taken to ensure that adequate electricity supply is achievable?
For long, committees have been formed on these issues and policies have been suggested. But when will these policies actually be implemented so that “Nigeria nor dey carry last” begins to be about an abundance of electricity supply, affordable renewable alternatives, and things of the sort.