Nigeria has the largest population of people without power worldwide, according to Akinwunmi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
This was revealed by Adeshina at the commemoration of former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon’s 90th birthday.
As the world leader in this area, he disclosed that almost 86 million Nigerians do not have access to energy.
Adeshina also underlined how companies and industries around the country are being severely hampered by the absence of a dependable electricity source.
Adeshina also underlined how companies and industries around the country are being severely hampered by the absence of a dependable electricity source.
“It has been estimated by the IMF that Nigeria loses about $29 billion annually or 5.6% of its GDP due to lack of reliable power supply. The report also indicates that Nigeria spends $14 billion per year on generators and fuel.
“The lack of electricity is killing Nigerian industries. Today, no business can survive in Nigeria without generators. Consequently, the abnormal has become normal.
“Nigeria has gas and crude oil in abundance, yet 86 million people live daily without electricity. Today, Nigeria is the number one country in the world in terms of the total number of people without electricity,” Adesina said.
Continent Powering Plans
Adeshina added that AfDB is making significant investments in Nigeria’s electrical industry and, consequently, in Africa at large.
Through strong finance and investment, he said, the bank is working with the World Bank to connect 300 million people with power by the end of 2030.
He claims that in order to help fortify the national grid against constant collapse, AfDB has spent more over $200 million on grid transmission.
“To support the implementation of Nigeria’s power sector recovery program, the bank provides Nigeria with $200 million for the Nigerian electrification project which is designed to fill the country’s electricity access gap.
“ We have invested $210 million in the Nigeria transmission project to strengthen the grid -power evacuation and regional interconnection.
“The President of the World Bank and I made a decision in April that the two banks will connect 300 million Africans, including Nigeria to electricity by 2030. That’s what is called the Mission 300. The largest such effort in the world,“ he added.
What To Note
As previously reported by THE NEWS CHRONICLES, Nigeria and other African nations would get a $90 billion electricity fund supported by the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
The fund is a component of the global financial institution’s ambition to supply electricity to 300 million Africans by 2023.
As a component of the Mission 300 program, this initiative seeks to evaluate and assist initiatives, assisting them in obtaining funding if they satisfy the program’s requirements.
Through the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES initiative), Nigeria, a crucial component of Mission 300, will also primarily benefit from the project.
The World Bank estimates that the project will replace more than 250,000 costly and polluting diesel generators while benefiting over 17.5 million Nigerians, or 20% of the nation’s existing unserved population.
