Nigeria dey face another round of power grid collapse, and dis one happen for Saturday morning, making am de third time within one week wey de country go dark. Dis latest collapse be de eighth time dis year, starting from February, and it follow de pattern of frequent collapses wey don happen 46 times between 2017 and 2023.
Experts say de problem dey come from lack of investment in modernizing and upgrading de power infrastructure. Mr. Chinedu Bosah, National Coordinator of de Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE), talk say de Federal Government must invest big to meet de energy demands of Nigerians. He mention say much of Nigeria’s transmission infrastructure date back to de 1960s and 1970s, making dem outdated and overstretched.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, admit say de deplorable state of Nigeria’s power infrastructure make grid collapse almost inevitable. He talk say until dem overhaul de entire infrastructure, dem go just dey manage am. He also suggest say having multiple power grids in different regions or states go help stabilize de power supply.
Nigeria’s power sector woes be many and complex. Inadequate power generation capacity, transmission and distribution bottlenecks, sub-optimal pricing and subsidies, operational inefficiencies of de Distribution Companies, and regulatory uncertainties and policy inconsistencies all contribute to de problem. Despite having an installed generation capacity of about 12,522MW, de national grid struggle to provide more than 4,200MW, and sometimes even less.
President of de African Development Bank, Akinwunmi Adesina, note say Nigeria has de highest population of people living without electricity globally, about 86 million, and IMF report say Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually due to lack of reliable power supply. Generators provide 48.6 percent of de electricity consumed by households and businesses, with $16 billion spent annually on fuel.
Stakeholders demand serious action from de Tinubu administration, including decentralizing de national grid and encouraging state-level independent power generation. Dey also call for massive investments in building new power plants, improving gas supply infrastructure, and developing renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
