Electricity Apartheid

Nigeria's Relationship With Perpetual Darkness

It’s safe to say introductions are no longer necessary, but it never hurts to say, “Hello, once again.

Apartheid - a system of keeping groups of people separate and treating them differently, especially when this results in disadvantage for one group.

NEPA - National Electric Power Authority

PHCN - Formerly NEPA, Power Holding Company of Nigeria

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Up Nepa! This is a phrase every Nigerian is familiar with, and it summarises the stop-start relationship Nigerians have with electricity and the power sector. A phrase that has followed most Nigerians from childhood, and now escorts them into the shallow waters and depths of adulthood.

For the purpose of argument, let’s assume every kid loves ice cream, and the ice-cream truck comes occasionally, imagine the delight on a kids face when they see the truck and eventually get their ice-cream—that’s the relationship Nigerians have with electricity. Because of how scarce this common good is, anytime electricity comes on, Nigerians, in unison, shout - Up Nepa.

NEPA is long gone, but PHCN remains. Different name, same problems.

Since the advent of Nigeria’s current democracy in 1999, a lot of money has been sunk into the power sector. According to a 2015 Vanguard news report, a total of 2.74 trillion Naira has been spent on improving electricity, and yet, problems largely remain. From 2016 onwards, improvements in the sector have largely focused on announcements rather than actions. Nigerians are being cuddled with words such as debt resolution, liquidity injection, renewable energy, transmission and grid upgrades, yet final consumers have seen no improvement in their electricity usage.

More than 92% of the world has solved its electricity issues, including some war-torn countries and some of Nigeria’s neighbours.

When you ask everyday Nigerians about the factors they think are responsible for the constant bottlenecks causing a lack of stable electricity in the sector, you get answers such as generator cabals, the International Monetary Fund, and a lack of political will from corrupt politicians. Regardless of who the culprits are, it’s obvious that the people making decisions in the power sector do not have Nigerians' best interests at heart.

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

As a kid, back when most adults in my life were obsessed with watching Channels Television News at night, I had no choice but to sit with them, watch absent-mindedly, and pretend to understand what the presenters were talking about. But one thing always caught my eye - the news roll-on at the bottom of the screen, which featured news across different industries. Two headlines were permanently imprinted in my head: Channels' self-aggrandising boast of being the best TV station in Nigeria for the seventh year running, and Nigeria generating 3800 megawatts of electricity.

Now, I am an adult, and Nigeria’s power-generating capacity still hovers around 3,800 to 4,000 megawatts, serving an estimated population of 200 million people. For 20 years, Nigeria’s population has grown, and technological advances have occurred, yet Nigeria still lags far behind in access to electricity.

The start of Tinubu’s regime saw the end of subsidies across sectors such as education, health and petroleum. And because of Nigeria’s unstable electricity reality, the economy has morphed into a generator economy, with businesses relying on petrol, diesel, and generators to run their day-to-day activities. Before the removal of the petroleum subsidy, when fuel was relatively cheap, it was easy for people and businesses to ignore the government's shortcomings in the power sector. Now, there is no subsidy in sight and money that was meant to go towards savings is consistently going towards operational costs for dwindling businesses, increased health costs and school fees. Mind you, while all these costs are shooting up, minimum wage has stayed largely the same and purchasing power keeps nosediving.

As if the removal of the subsidy was not enough, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s regime had the bright idea of increasing electricity tariffs across the board while segmenting consumers based on how much more they can pay, depending on where they live.

Quick backstory. My parents' house is in a semi-remote area on the border between Lagos State and Ogun State. The type of place mostly devoid of factories and sometimes, people. Not much happens there, and electricity consumption is pretty low. Please— keep that in mind.

Nigerians were divided into bands, hence my need to call it an electricity apartheid. Simply put, how deep your pocket is, combined with where you live, determines how much electricity you deserve.

The highbrow areas were kept in Band A - by the regime’s definition, they deserved to have electricity for 22 hours of the day.

The places where you would find mostly working-class and the shrinking middle-class people were cramped in Band B to D - by the regime’s definition, they deserved to have electricity for 8–10 hours per day, at PHCN’s discretion, which means on some days, they might not see electricity at all.

Band E was reserved for remote areas like my parents’ place, and because the area consumes so little electricity, it was easy for them to have “stable electricity.” But since the introduction of apartheid style bands, the government has decided to start robbing Peter to pay Paul. I can explain…

Two decades ago, grid collapse was not something you heard about every day, but now it’s at the forefront of national discourse. Why?

Simple. Remember, Nigeria’s electricity generation capacity has stayed largely the same for the better part of two decades, and to justify charging high electricity tariffs and make Band A consumers see value for money, the regime thought it wise to divert electricity meant for remote and some relatively middle-class places to highbrow areas. As a result, some areas saw an increase in electricity stability, while others saw a clear decrease. As all this unfolds, the grid, which was not built for these deceptive shenanigans, starts to consistently collapse under the sheer weight of government greed and deception. According to a Punch Newspaper report dated October 2024, Tinubu recorded 12 grid collapses in the first 16 months of his regime, compared to the last three years of Buhari’s “administration,” during which he recorded 14 grid collapses.

Simply put, Nigeria’s electricity demand exceeds what the grid can supply, and instead of making necessary improvements, the government of the day has decided that the best solution is to rob Peter to pay Paul.

In 2023 alone, 767 manufacturing firms shut down, costing 18000 jobs, while 355 others became distressed, according to the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria. In 2024, most of the distressed firms now operate on the brink of extinction.

It’s election cycle once more, with Nigerians going to the polls next year. For people who have paid ransoms for their loved ones and seen their villages razed by terrorists, insecurity might be their biggest voting issue. For others who have not been able to make a living and seen businesses and the economy take a nosedive, they might vote along those lines, hoping to see a change. The best way to drive a wedge into people is to divide them. As some Nigerians complain that the lack of electricity has bitten into the bones of their productivity, others are shielded from such issues because of where they live. As Nigerians go to the polls next year, I hope they realise that the country's dire situation is so much more than the bubble they find themselves wrapped in.

Lastly, if the current order of things remains at the polls next year, Nigerians should get ready to continue their perpetual relationship with darkness. In March 2026, Tinubu’s regime exited the national grid after completing its solar power project, which cost 10 billion Naira. That decision follows a long line of actions that chronicle how the regime has always abandoned Nigerians at the first sign of trouble while providing solutions for itself.

But it should be no surprise to Nigerians; it has always been the nature of the current head of the regime to run. In 1994, he ran while his NADECO members were persecuted by the military. In 2026, he ran from the national grid while millions of Nigerians suffered from its epileptic nature. And if the country collapses under his watch before the end of his tenure, Nigerians can be sure he will run again, while they are left to suffer the consequences.

Until then, Nigerians can keep shouting UP NEPA!

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Abeg, make all of una vote next year and remove this blood-sucking government.

Current Read - White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Song of the week -

Nezo.

Nigerian by birth,

Indian by hemp,

Canadian by loud.

Signed - Nezo, St. Patron of women with vowels in their names, especially the ones with 0-2 boyfriends.