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Nigeria's Power Supply Drops In Q2 2019, Says New Report

The report observed that over N5 trillion has been invested into providing electricity for Nigerians in the last 20 years but darkness still continues to increase.

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Power supplied to Nigerian homes dropped from 9.6 to 9.2 hours daily, according to a report released by NoiPolls. 

The report observed that over N5 trillion has been invested into providing electricity for Nigerians in the last 20 years but darkness still continues to increase.

“What is more worrying in the power conundrum is that the more money is expended in the sector, the darker the country becomes as regards to the power supply.

“For instance, Nigeria has expended an estimated sum of N5tn ($31.45bn) in the last 20 years to generate power. However, only a maximum of about 5,074 megawatts of electricity could be generated within this period, which is still grossly inadequate and derisory,” the report said. 

According to the research, the peak sustained period of power supply enjoyed by Nigerians in Q2 2019 was 9.4 hours in June. While in Q1, it was 10.2 hours in January 2019. 

NoiPolls attributed the drop in supply in Q2 to the increasing incidence of grid failures. 

The report noted that Nigeria needs at list 30,000mw to keep its populace away from darkness.

It said, “This detrimental and undesirable event highlights a major challenge in the power sector which needs urgent attention due to its devastating effects on the country’s economy.

“It must also be stated that for a country of approximately 200 million Nigerians, a minimum of 30,000 megawatts of electricity needs to be generated. It is against this backdrop that NOIPolls conducted its quarterly power poll to assess electricity distribution to Nigerian households in the second quarter of 2019.” 

Punch reports the research as saying that 37 percent of the respondents who were polled by the survey in Q1 said they have had an improved supply of power. This percentage dropped to 31 in Q2. 

However, there was an increase in the number of people reporting improved power supply from 28 percent in April 2019 to 36 percent in June 2019. Between January and June 2019, the national grid has collapsed eight times. 

It failed five times in January alone.

Topics
Electronics