AfrElec: Nigeria needs $100bn to boost electricity supply, says World Bank

Nigeria needs around $100bn in the next 10 years to tackle the country’s unreliable power supply, the World Bank has estimated.

Speaking at an event put on by The Electricity Hub, a media organisation focused on the African power sector, Ashish Khanna, the World Bank’s Regional Director for Infrastructure for Africa West and East, said that Nigeria needs large investment.

“Our estimation is that Nigeria will need at least $100bn in the next 10 years, and it will be very difficult for the government or the World Bank to plug that hole,” Khanna said, according to This Day, a Nigerian newspaper.

According to Khanna, Africa's biggest economy also has the largest energy access deficit in the world. Some 85mn Nigerians don’t have access to grid electricity (43% of the country’s population) compared to 85% in Ghana, while Senegal should reach 100% by 2025.

Khanna’s statement came one day after an announcement by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that contracts have been signed to generate 5000MW of electricity from July 1.

According to USAID, Nigeria has the potential to generate 12,522 MW of electric power from its existing sources, but only dispatches around 4,000 MW per day. 

The lack of reliable power is a significant constraint for citizens and businesses, resulting in annual economic losses estimated at $26.2bn (NGN10.1 trillion) in 2021, equivalent to about 2% of GDP.