(Ecofin Agency) - Nigeria will connect 500, 000 to 800, 000 new households to the national grid, every year, to achieve universal access to energy by 2030. This was indicated in a report from World Bank on the environmental and social assessment of the Power Sector Recovery Program.

In order to achieve this goal, the country plans to reach in the mid-term, an electrification rate of 75% from the current 30%, by 2025.

With 80 million people without access to electricity, Nigeria is the African country with the largest energy deficit and the second in the world, after India.

In addition, electricity is unevenly distributed among the population, depending on distribution zones.

“Up to 83.6 per cent of the urban population had access while only 39.1 per cent of the rural population did. Similarly, the connection rate ranges from 26.7 per cent in the north east to 82.4 per cent in the south-south zone,” the document indicated.

Moreover, the document reports a financial deficit of $1.4 million accumulated by the sector between 2015 and 2016.

Still, according to the report, the migration of a sector publicly managed to a highly private sector-controlled energy market which began in 2013, put the sector under significant pressure. High losses and drop in fund recovery due to inadequacy of electricity cost have led to an annual deficit which, combined over 2015 and 2016, stands at $1.4 billion.

Gwladys Johnson Akinocho