Nigeria is one of the three countries in Sub Saharan Africa which access to electricity is deplorable.
Alongside the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia, she has the largest populations lacking access to electricity.
This is even as global electricity access has expanded steadily over the past two decades, the World Bank has stated.
The three account for around one-third of the world’s population without electricity access, a report titled: “Access to Electricity: Who Remains Without Power?”, has stated.
The report adds that while all three host large populations without access to electricity that their national contexts however differ considerably.
It says the share of population without access ranges from around 40 percent in Nigeria and 45 percent in Ethiopia to 80 percent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, even as their electrification trajectories also diverge.
“Between 2015 and 2023, progress in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo lagged comparable countries, reflecting slow and uneven gains.
” Ethiopia, on the other hand, made substantial strides, expanding electricity access at nearly twice the pace of its peers.
“Ethiopia’s progress towards universal electrification outpaced Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo
In all three countries, electricity access for rural residents lags urban residents”, the report states.
According to it, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, access to electricity for rural populations remained extremely low, (around 1 percent) between 2015 and 2023. In Nigeria, the levels were not as low, but little has changed in both rural and urban areas.
“By contrast, Ethiopia made rapid progress in expanding electricity access in rural areas.
“From nearly no access, almost half the rural population has access to electricity today.
” In urban areas, access was already fairly high in 2000, and by 2023, it had reached near universal access.
” Although gaps remain, the country has notably reduced the urban-rural access gap”..
The Eagle Newsmedia reports that just yesterday, the Mainpower Electricity Distribution Limited (MEDL) a subsidiary of Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, responsible for power supply in the South-east. announced a planned six-day power outage across many communities in four local government areas of Enugu State.
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The MEDL spokesperson, Emeka Ezeh, said in a statement that the outage would be carried out by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) station in Nsukka.
In the first week of September, several parts of Abuja were left without access to electricity, while the Transmission Company of Nigeria carried out what it described as scheduled maintenance at the 132kV Apo Transmission Substation.
The exercise, it said was for the purpose of stringing and latching of Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) on the two 132kV Katampe–Apo Transmission Lines, Lines 1 and 2, between towers T130 and T132.
About the same period, Nigeria’s electricity generation plunged from about 3,840 megawatts (MW) to around 476.70MW, leaving the national grid with less than 500MW to supply.
The result was power outages in many parts of the country.
Cami Ezenwa is a Writer, Editor, Publicist, Biographer and Journalism Trainer
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