Are Nigerians suffering amidst abundance? The answer is yes, in my opinion. Nigerians have suffered darkness and business setbacks due to the unavailability of adequate power supply. In 2019, statistics showed that only 62 per cent of the country’s population had access to electricity and the other 38 per cent had no access to electric power. Till the present, the numbers haven’t improved appreciably.
The country recently suffered load shedding and power shortages as eighteen power plants had several challenges that prevented it from generating electric power. Amidst the challenges, Nigeria has the resources to generate adequate electricity in abundance, and these resources include:
• Gas reserves: Nigeria stands as the country with the largest gas reserve in Africa and the 7th largest globally. According to the department of petroleum resources (DPR), we have about 203.16 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. Despite this abundance, GenCos experience huge difficulty in accessing the gas to provide electricity for Nigerians. Eight out of the eighteen power plants that broke down were due to gas supply constraints.
• Water resources: Nigeria is endowed with numerous water resources. There are eight main river basins and three hundred and twenty-three (323) large, medium, and small dams. However, only three of these dams are currently being used to generate hydropower. Four other dams are still in construction, and two dams in the west of the country have been dormant for more than twenty years.
• Biofuel: Biofuel is a source of electricity generated from organic waste materials. About thirty-two (32) million tonnes of solid waste are generated in Nigeria, one of the highest amounts in Africa. Imagine converting this waste that mostly ends up in landfills for electricity generation.
These are only but a few resources that the country has in abundance. For a country that exports electricity to neighbouring countries such as the Republic of Congo, Niger, and Togo, it is shameful that Nigeria cannot boast a full-day supply of electricity without interference.