Nigeria's Power Supply Remain Issue Despite Govt' Spendings.…

By Elizabeth Tanko

Nigeria's power supply instability has turned into one of the most frustrating and embarrassing realities about a country that prides itself to be the "Giant of Africa." Year in, year out, billions of naira are spent on power projects, yet the national grid continues to collapse. Businesses are shutting down, and individuals have to stay in the dark or depend on expensive alternatives like generators and solar energy. It is a vicious circle of ineffectiveness, mismanagement, and broken promises.

What is more baffling is the contradiction that Nigeria sends power to nearby countries like Ghana, countries that have more reliable electricity, and Nigerian industries and homes continue to suffer from periodic blackouts. If Ghana is able to experience constant light from a system that we claim to underperform, then something seriously is wrong. This indicates an error of no transparency, political will, and possibly corruption within the power generating sector.

The 2013 privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was meant to bring transformation. It has instead resulted in a fractured system with generation, transmission, and distribution controlled by companies that inherited old infrastructure and clearly lack any capacity to modernize it. Four years on from massive injections of money into the industry, meaningful improvement remains a long way off.

Now, individuals are being forced to pay higher electricity bills, over 65 percent in some cases, and still endure unreliable supply. This is not only exploitative but a betrayal of the Nigerian people. How can anyone possibly defend charging more for a service that is still largely unavailable? It is insensitive and unjust.

Nigeria's power sector managers have some explaining to do to Nigerians. Why continues the grid collapse? Where exactly are the trillions of Naira being going? Why have there not been any sustainable improvement all these decades? Nigerians deserve explanations and not apologies.

Until such time as there is genuine and whole-hearted reform of the industry, backed up by truthfulness and real commitment to new-age infrastructure, Nigeria will keep living in darkness, both literal and economic. Time for action is now. Enough is enough.