Nigeria don reduce di amount of electricity wey e dey supply Niger Republic from 80 megawatts go 46 megawatts, wey mean say dem don cut am by 42%. According to Niger’s Energy Minister, Haoua Amadou, dis reduction don cause serious wahala for their country. Light production don drop between 30 to 50 percent, and e don force their national power company, Nigelec, to start rationing light, especially for their capital, Niamey.
Di light cut start after Nigeria join ECOWAS take sanction Niger because of the military coup wey remove civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum, for July 2023. Since then, Nigeria suspend plenty of the electricity wey dem dey send, but dem don resume small with only 46 megawatts now.
Meanwhile, Nigeria self dey inside power wahala. Di country dey generate just small above 5,000 megawatts of light, wey no reach at all for a country of over 200 million people. Experts talk say Nigeria need at least 30,000 megawatts to serve everybody well.
To make things worse, power generation companies — wey people sabi as GenCos — don warn say dem fit shut down because government dey owe dem more than ₦4 trillion. Dem say out of the ₦4tn, ₦2tn na for 2024 alone, and another ₦1.9tn na old debt wey dem never pay. Dem complain say every month, dem dey get less than 30% of the money wey dem suppose collect for the light wey dem generate.
Di companies talk say if government no take quick action, dem no go fit continue to operate. Dem say other service providers for the electricity market dey collect full payment, but GenCos dey suffer with just 9 to 11 percent of dem invoice. This one fit crash di whole electricity system if e continue.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, don promise say dem go solve the matter. Him adviser, Bolaji Tunji, talk say Ministry of Finance go soon handle the payment issue to help settle di wahala with GenCos.
As everything dey now, both Nigeria and Niger dey struggle with electricity, and unless serious action happen, light matter fit worse for everybody.
