Michael AndeyinA report by Standard Bank in August showed that Nigeria’s various power supply struggles make the country lose up to $26 billion annually. The national grid collapsed three times after that report.
The report titled ‘African Trade Barometer- an overview of the current crossborder trade landscape of Africa’ featured the surveyed infrastructural qualities of Nigeria and other countries like Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and Mozambique.
The report highlighted that Nigeria’s electricity demand is four times the capacity that the country currently generates. Because of this, businesses have to cope by finding alternative means.
“In Nigeria, surveyed businesses must contend with a national grid that frequently collapses as it fails to meet a daily peak demand which is nearly four times its generation capacity,” part of the report stated.
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“Economic losses arising from Nigeria’s electricity shortages are estimated to be USD 26 billion annually, without accounting for spending on fuel for off-grid generators, which is estimated to be a further USD 22 billion.”
An EQ explainer showed that the inability of Nigeria to generate sufficient power for its teeming demands is one of the reasons for the persistent collapse of the national grid.
The northeastern and northwestern parts of Nigeria have experienced blackouts in the past five days, a problem which the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) blamed on a faulty facility in the Ugwuaji-Apir 330 kV Double Circuit transmission line around the Igumale area of Benue State.
TCN LINESMEN DISCOVER FAULT AREA ON UGWUAJI – APIR LINE; REPAIR WORKS TO COMMENCE TOMORROW MORNINGA team of linesmen from the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, has discovered the fault on the Ugwuaji – Apir 330kV Double Circuit transmission line, at about 5pm this evening, pic.twitter.com/PwcL4EzJxc— TCNNIGERIA (@TCN_NIGERIA) October 23, 2024
In another EQ report, Sustainable Energy For All said that 1,500 Nigerians die every year from generator fumes. It also added that Nigerians spend $10 billion yearly to purchase and maintain generators.
According to the Standard Bank report, power outage and blackouts cause disruptions to production and water supply. It also leads to a significant drop in business sales and incomes.
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“Across the 10 African markets, power supply infrastructure remains the most severe obstacle to surveyed businesses’ operations. It is reported as one of the most poorly perceived infrastructural attributes as well as the one presenting the most severe obstacle to business operations,” the report added.
“Blackouts cause a downtime of production, risk the quality of goods that require controlled environments, impact water supply, and affect telecommunications infrastructure which businesses may rely on for payments.
“The result is reduced sales and income. In the absence of a reliable power supply, many businesses consider turning to solar energy which presents a large initial investment or using generators which present significant additional operational expenditure due to diesel purchases.”
Nafisatu Asabe Ali, Executive Director of the Independent System Operator at TCN, recently said that the larger Shiroro-Mando transmission line, which supplies more power to many parts of northern Nigeria, remains out of service due to insecurity.
The power transmitting infrastructure that supplies Nigeria’s limited electricity from the grid remains a target for vandals and terrorists. This level of insecurity also prevents timely repairs.
From the African Trade Barometer’s overview, Nigeria is positioned to lose another couple of billions to the power generation failures of 2024.
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