If Nigeria had 24 hrs electricity

Posted by James on Tuesday February 3, 2015 at 14:13:27:

When it comes to the supply of electricity in Nigeria, it has over the years been considered as unreliable. This is mostly due the fact that the government is not doing enough to ensure enough power is generated. For most of the time, Nigerians can not reliably predict the number of hours electricity will be made available for or for which days it will be. The supply of electricity by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) is nothing to write home about and it's not an encouraging story because of the billions of Naira pumped into the sector for many years. This does not in any way tell good about the country that has been ripped by corrupt officials in the sector.

Some parts of the country just get to have supply of electricity for only 3 or 4 hours. And there are also those parts that can even stay as long as a whole month without having a taste of electricity. This situation has made almost all Nigerians now have generators - generators have now become the owner of the day. This situation has affected a lot of families and businesses alike. It has stepped up the cost of living (buying a generator and also the cost of fueling and maintenance). The annoying part of it is that even with this poor supply, whether you have "light or not" you still get to your regular bill.

According to business reports, this incessant failure in the supply of power has led to the closure of a lot of businesses and industries. They have to go because they can no longer operate in Nigeria because it affects their productivity. A lot of them are beginning to relocate to other African countries where the condition is a lot more favourable.

This lack of industries invariably means lack of opportunities and employments. This is partly responsible for the lack of economic activities in the country. The tax revenues that would have been accrued to the government are now being forfeited.

According to a governor of a state, if we can have an improvement in electricity supply, the economy will as much as double the productivity it is already having. If every part of Nigeria (both rural and urban) and every corporate body gets a supply of electricity for 24 hour, more companies and industries will surface the country thereby bringing a lot of economic activities and job creations. Also if Nigeria had 24 hours power supply, businesses already in the country will begin to perform better because the cost of getting a generator and cost of buying diesel must have been eliminated.

Can you imagine what it would be like for an average guy who is just starting business, and at the same time thinking of how to get to a big generator in order to power his equipment. With constant supply of electricity, these limiting factors would have been done away with.

In conclusion, if Nigeria has 24 hours electricity supply there will be a considerable reduction in the operational cost families and firms. Electricity plays a great deal of role in the development of this country and as such should given a lot more attention. It would create more jobs, encourage production and exports of goods and services.