Nigeria’s parlous public power supply

Nigeria’s notoriously unreliable public power supply has created a huge and disturbing demand-supply disequilibrium to a point of national embarrassment.

The current parlous state appears to be going from worse to worst. It is only Nigeria that people pay for services not rendered. Charges for public power supply epitomize the worst subsidization of inefficiency. People pay for electricity not provided.

A lot of money has been spent and still being by the federal government in providing electricity. Yet the results are not encouraging.

Today, over 90 per cent of companies and other business outfits operating in Nigeria depend heavily on their own source of power supply rather than public power supply.

The negative effects of epileptic power supply are chiefly responsible for the sluggishness in the growth of the Nigerian economy.
The problem with public power supply is with the government bureaucracy and known penchant of some characters in government who are profiteering from the public power supply crisis.

Players in the power generation and distribution project have advanced one alibi or the other to explain why the target cannot be achieved.

Power is the key driver of industrialization and major force behind a productivity society as well as an ink on the wheels of better communication.

Surprisingly, this essential ingredient of life is today not a right in Nigeria; it is a privilege and one the powers that be dispenses at their whims and caprices.Power supply crisis is leaving in its wake a catastrophic damage on the economy and national psyche.

From small businesses to multi corporations and to homes, assured power supply is still a distant dream only the intrepid can afford.
Telecommunications, the only sector that has shown visible signs of growth is now caught in the web of epileptic power supply.Today, apart from proving security, laying fibre optic rings, paying multiple taxes, the telecommunications industry provide their own electricity.

It is enough to target improvement in power supply, government should open up power generation and distribution to the private sector and allow investors willing to upgrade the power situation.