Nigeria: Playing Politics With Electricity

This Day

4 April 2011

Nigeria: Playing Politics With Electricity

I have been particularly interested in the solutions most of the candidates preparing to contest the presidential election 12 days from today have to proffer on the electricity sector. My interest stems from its significance and the multiplier effect the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry has on the rest of the economy. In my estimation, if this country manages to fix power, it would have solved up to 50 percent of its problems.

Manufacturers will be able to produce more at significantly reduced costs; farmers will be able to grow more crops owing to agro-allied businesses and food processing plants that will patronise them; cities with the resources to invest in monorail projects for mass transit would not have to worry about back up electric generators; overhead costs of banks would decline and impact positively on lending rates; a lot more jobs will be created from increased economic activity; access to pipe borne water will improve, etc, etc. The list is endless.

A lot of their rhetoric is not unfounded, however. After 50 years of nationhood, Nigeria, a country blessed with abundant natural resources, still cannot generate sufficient electricity to meet its energy needs. It must be particularly frustrating for the candidates, just as it is for the rest of the populace. Particularly galling for all concerned is the effort, or lack thereof, made in the last 12 years to generate and distribute more electricity by the Peoples Democratic Party-led government.

The candidates of the opposition parties have placed the blame squarely on the federal government for spending several billions of dollars in the electricity sector without significant results.