The World Bank says it has assisted Nigeria’s power sector with the sum of $1.25 billion within two years.
The Bank’s Practice Manager, West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna, while presenting the Power Sector Recovery Programme fact sheet during a virtual meeting with journalists, said the country’s power sector has not kept up with demand or provided reliable supply to existing customers, making businesses in Nigeria to lose about $29bn annually due to unreliable electricity.
“Between June 2020 and February 2021, the World Bank Board approved US$1.25 billion financing to support the Government in its efforts to reset the power sector. World Bank’s Power Sector Recovery Operation and Distribution Sector Recovery Programme are designed to support PSRP implementation.
“Nigeria has the largest number of people without access to electricity in the world: every one in 10 people without access to electricity now reside in Nigeria.
“The Power sector has not been able to keep up with demand or provide reliable supply to existing customers. Only 51 percent of installed capacity is available for generation.
“An average Nigerian consumes four times less energy than his counterpart in a typical lower middle-income country, and businesses in Nigeria lose about US$29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity,’’ he added.
Similarly, the senior energy specialist, World Bank, Muhammad Wakil, in his presentation said 40 percent of Nigerians did not have access to electricity.
To tackle the challenges, Wakil said Nigeria would need to connect one million households to the grid annually in order to meet the year 2030 set date for the ‘electricity for all’ initiative.
Amaka E. Nliam
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