Power is the most important discovery of humanity in the past 1,000 years. It is the key to unlocking human dignity and economic prosperity. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (2025) The incessant collapse of the national grid by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) is no longer tolerable. The problem and other decades-old bottlenecks in the nation’s power sector have just got to be fixed. Joseph Tegbe, the new Minister of Power promised at his swearing-in ceremony in Abuja about two months ago, to tackle head-on the challenges, but cautioned that they would not be fixed in weeks or months. He will not however, be the first to so raise Nigerians hope. Records from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and other bodies say the grid collapsed at least 105 times in the last ten years as at 2024. Some say 140 times. In 2024 alone, the grid collapsed 12 times, up to three times in October, with the last in that year being on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 2.00pm. In 2025, Nigerians began the New Year with the grid collapse on Saturday January 14th of at 1.00pm and the last in that year occurring on December 29th. The first this 2026 was on January 23 and the sad tales continue ad infinitum. However, on Thursday, the April 17 2025 after the grid collapsed once again, the then Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, announced that the national grid will be decentralised into the three regions of Nigeria, so that if anything happens in one region, it will not necessarily affect the others. As if daring the Minister, the nation was once again plunged into near total darkness on September 10, of 2025, at 11.23am. The grid load plummeted from 4,500Mw to just 120Mw, according to real-time data from Nigerian System Operator (NISO) representing one of the most severe power system disturbances of 2025. Nigerians are tired of the same old story every time. Even Nigeria’s seat of power, Aso Rock, has since exited from the national power supply and is now on solar, leaving the rest of Nigerians and residents to their fate. The Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies spent a staggering N220 billion on solar power installations in 15 months in their growing dependence on alternative energy sources particularly solar. Nigerian’s national grid continues to hover around an average capacity of 4,000 megawatts (MW), far below demand and plagued by frequent systems collapses. When shall we boost of uninterrupted power supply? Chantelle Abdul, Group Managing Director of Majec International Ltd, at a conference of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria in Lagos not too long ago, disclosed that for Nigerians to enjoy constant electricity supply, there is a need for more investment in the sector that will culminate in the country being able to generate 200,000 megawatts based on international standards of 1GW (1,000MW) to one million people, estimating Nigeria’s population to be 200 million people. He therefore said that the country needs 195,400 megawatts extra, generating currently an average of 4,600MW. World Bank says that Nigerian businesses suffered a combined annual loss of $29 billion because of unreliable power, an estimated 2 per cent of its GDP! Africa Trade Barometer reports put it this way, power cuts, cost cause Nigeria Economy around $26 billion annually as businesses sink $22 billion yearly on fuel for off-grid solutions like generators. Nigeria has one of the highest rates of self-generation globally. Meanwhile, about a month past, Tegbe announced that Nigeria is positioning itself for a major transformation of its electricity sector, with plans to grow installed power capacity to 277 Gigawatts (GW) by 2060, while leveraging renewable energy and private sector investment to drive industries competitiveness. He also highlighted the approval of the National Integrated Electricity Policy (NIEP) by Federal Executive Council (FEC) in May 2025, comprehensively replacing the countries outdated 2001 electricity policy framework. 92 million Nigerians (4 in 10 Nigerians) are not connected with electricity, also according to a report from World Bank. That is, over 45 percent of Nigeria’s entire population, a deficit that is among the world’s highest. The challenges is complicated by low investment in electric power infrastructure, growing energy demand due to rising population and climate change. The mean electricity use of a sub-Saharan dweller is put by Hawitti, an investment research agency as “lower than that of a household fridge in the United States”. Nigeria presently ranks 25th in terms of electricity generation per capital in Africa at 0.338MWH according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). However in August, 2024, the Vice President, Kashim Shetimahad called on the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to double efforts to accelerate Nigerian’s quest towards Universal electricity access and to ensure that citizens get more access to power supply, as well as creating awareness and keeping Nigeria’s posted with ongoing efforts to address the electricity deficit in the country. The agency, REA, said it had secured a grant of $750 million from the World Bank and African Development Bank (AFDB) for rural electrification projects across Nigeria. But the said grant, is now said to be cancelled. Electricity use is a prerequisite for political and socio-economic growth of a country. When electricity is not there, the well-being of the people is compromised. According to a former Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell, Peter Voser, “Energy is the oxygen of the economy”. As posed by an expert in Energy, Dr. Sam Nzekwe: “….it is sad that we have not been able to develop our infrastructure, especially power. What meaningful thing are you going to do in an economy without power? Our manufacturers are spending a large chunk of their capital to provide power for their factories. That is why goods are so costly in the market. So the government should tackle the issue of power and deal with it”. Most companies who are the biggest consumers of electricity are off the grid because of unreliability and dismal qualify of supply. Companies like Guinness, Dunlop and others have since relocated to Ghana, our next door neighbour, where there is reliability and better service delivery. Ghana has recently evinced readiness to sell electricity to Nigeria! Unemployment in Nigeria has almost reached 40 per cent. As a way out of the challenges of the power sector, the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Privatised the sector in 2013 into 17 companies- six (6) generating companies (Gencos), and eleven distribution companies (Discos). But still till date we are not out of the wood. Infact, the last administration, the Muhammad, Buhari presidency had accused the Obasanjo government of spending over $15 billion in the sector without any result. But equally the Buhari regime, spent over N4 trillion, with several interventions from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), World Bank, Siemens, African Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation(JICO), France Development Agency, and other financiers, and yet we are still where we were. Infact between the privatisation era and now, the Federal Government has sunk N7 trillion in the power sector indirect intervention. As earlier said, the national grid has collapsed in the past 10 years over 105 times, as at 2024 (some say 140 times), despite over $2.6 billion investment from donor funds expended on it. The sector has been moving from bad to worse- worse that the pre-privatisation era. Currently the installed capacity is still 13,000 megawatts and power generated stand at 4,500 megawatts, while the daily power load which is distributed to the eleven (11) distribution companies hovers around 3,000 MW. Very poor indeed, for population of 216 million Nigerians and myriads of industries whose estimated demand as at 2020 was 17,566MW and expected to grow to 45,662 MW by 2030. Our peers, South Africa and Egypt can boast of 58,095MW and 59,063MW respectively. Infact, some expert’s say that Nigeria needs at least 100,000 megawatts. Chantelle Abdul, earlier mentioned at the beginning suggested in generating 200,000 megawatts(MW) based on international standards of 1GW (1,000MW) to one million people, estimating Nigeria’s population to be 200 million people. Be that as it may, it is envisaged in the Service-Based Tariff (SBT), between Nigerian Electricity Regulation Commission (NERC) and the eleven (11) Distribution companies (Discos) that before NERC increases the tariff, there should be corresponding increment in power. That is why customers are categorised into Band A, B,C, D and E segments. But, in practice, the reverse is the case. The more there is less power supply, the higher the end-user tariff goes up. Some stakeholders describe the practice as “a grand scam”, or “419.” To be continued. Umennaka, a lawyer, is President, Friends of the Sick International, an NGO.