16 June 2009
Badamasi Maiwalda, 32, is an iron bender in Kano, northern Nigeria. He sits under the large mango tree near his workshop and looks up at the powerless electric cables passing overhead. “Many years ago, when there was electricity, I used to make up to 3,000 Naira (about $17) a day. Now I make about N300 ($1.70) on a lucky day when we get the one hour of power which is the most we can ever expect.”
Many of Badamasi’s customers have switched to the bigger iron-bending workshops which are able to afford diesel generators. “I can’t save enough to buy a generator - I have a wife and three children. But for the past three days there has been no electricity at all. I have made nothing, so there is no food to take home. Without electricity, my family will continue to go hungry.”
This situation has been brewing for years. The Nigerian power sector has seen its generation and distribution capacity become increasingly worn out or damaged, and the population has suffered bitterly as a result. Nowadays only 40% of people have access to power and, for those that do, power cuts and voltage fluctuations are part of everyday life.
Transforming the energy sector
Behind these years of decline stands, among other things, poor management. The Ministry of Power has lacked the capacity to plan and run an efficient energy sector, which has impacted upon the way that the government-owned electricity companies in charge of providing power to homes and businesses operate.
But hope is in sight. To improve the infrastructure of the country's power sector, DFID is providing management advice to the Ministry of Power. For the first time in Nigeria, electricity companies are now producing realistic and achievable business plans as a result. There is also a focus on ensuring that the distribution of energy is well-managed, and a series of pilot projects is looking to improve the way that customers and revenues are handled.
The benefits of a stronger energy sector will be felt across Nigerian society. Schools, hospitals and clinics will be able to provide their key services more reliably. The country’s desperately dangerous highways will become safer as street and traffic lights function again, and there will be environmental gains as the need for emissions-producing diesel generators disappears. And Badamasi, and millions of Nigerians like him, will finally get the power they need to earn a living.
Facts and stats
- DFID is providing £19.5 million to the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility to enhance the Government of Nigeria’s ability to plan, finance and maintain infrastructure in Nigeria.
- NIAF is working with the Ministry of Power, the power sector market operator and the CEOs of electricity companies.
- NIAF is also providing technical, planning and implementation support to key state governments to increase their ability to plan, finance, construct and maintain infrastructure within a sustainable economic framework.
- Nigeria currently has around 3,000 Megawatts of power capacity available on average on any day, which translates into about 20 Watts per person, compared with 85 Watts per person in nearby Ghana.