- According to the International Monetary Fund 2019 country report on Nigerian economy loses, about $29-billion annually due to electricity shortage.
Despite being Africa’s biggest oil producer, Nigeria has been struggling to meet its energy needs for decades. Most parts of the country plunged into darkness last week when the country’s power grid collapsed twice impacting businesses and daily lives. According to analysts, there were power grid collapses in February, May, July, and August of 2021 and there have been about 206 collapses between 2010 and 2019.
Nigeria’s power generation is mostly thermal and hydro with an installed capacity of nearly 13,000 megawatts. But it barely manages to disburse about 4,500 megawatts. To deal with the poor electricity supply, Nigerians for several years have relied heavily on imported generator sets operating on petrol or diesel. When power supply snaps, the demand for petrol and diesel shoots up due to excessive use of generators.
Though Nigeria is Africa’s largest producer of crude oil, it imports almost all of its fuel as none of its four refineries is functional. After the Russia –Ukraine war started in February, prices shot up due to delay in cargo ships delivering oil resulting in acute shortage and nationwide blackout last week. Meanwhile after a failed privatisation of the power sector, government and distribution companies (Discos) blame each other for the power failure.
The recent fuel shortage and lack of electricity supply have resulted in inflationary pressures impacting businesses. According to the International Monetary Fund 2019 country report on the Nigerian economy, the country losses, about $29-billion annually due to electricity shortage.
Also read;
https://trendsnafrica.com/nigerias-dicos-record-huge-losses/
https://trendsnafrica.com/fuel-shortages-pumps-up-inflation-in-nigeria/
https://trendsnafrica.com/despite-oil-price-spiralling-nigerias-common-man-at-receiving-end/
