Power supply in Nigeria is one of the biggest challenge on investment and growth in Africa’s largest economy. A lot of business people in the country rely on expensive diesel generators for their business and daily activities while a few others stay in darkness. In a bid to boost power supply Nigeria in 2013 handed over its distribution firms to private companies but the situation still remains the same. Prepaid meters were introduced but consumers complained that they (meters) were difficult to get and even when one got them, they did not work properly.
A report released last year by power experts indicates that there is potential for Nigeria to attract tens of billions of dollars of investment into the power sector given the huge demand from industry and the public. If Nigeria gets the lights working it would reduce business costs by up to 40 percent, add 3 percent to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and spur a boom in labour intensive areas like manufacturing, food processing, textiles and pharmaceuticals. Read more on Nigeria’s electricity crisis here.