Nigeria’s electricity supply has dropped from the 4,883.9 megawatts (mw) recorded in the past one month to 2,200mw, below the country’s installed capacity of 11,165.40mw.

According to Nerus Ekezie, the Head of Programmes and Membership at the Institute of Directors’ Centre for Corporate Governance, this drop in electricity supply will aggravate the suffering of the citizens as the rate of inflation in the country is presently at 19.6%.

He said the insufficient power supply will result in high cost of production and increase in the prices of goods in the country.

The prices of some petroleum products, such as Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), kerosene and diesel have increased, making Nigerians spend much in getting the essential commodities.

In spite of vows by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to make sure that there was an adequate supply of all the petroleum products, the prices still remain high, the Guardian reports.

Seun Olagunju, the General Manager, Public Affairs division of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), blamed the shortage of power supply on low power generation.

“It is not particularly the fire incident but the vandalism of gas pipelines that resulted in short supply of gas to thermal power generating stations,” he said.

Anita Fatunji