Power consumers kick as Nigeria exports electricity worth $50 million in 2022

The total value of electricity sold to foreign customers in 2022 was $50.98 million which when converted to Naira using the official rate of ₦461/$ as of 2022, was ₦23.5 billion.

The NERC data however, revealed the benefitting countries remitted just $32.69 million, an equivalent of ₦15.1 billion which is about 35% of the total amount owed and thus leaving a balance of about $18.29m or ₦8.4 billion during the period.

Despite the outrage from power consumers in Nigeria, the FG has said most of the electricity channeled to foreign countries is unutilised power which is not used in Nigeria.

In 2021, the FG officially announced it will be supplying electrical power to four West African countries which include Togo, Burkina Faso, Republic of Benin and Niger Republic through the $570 million North Core Power Transmission Line.

This was disclosed by Sule Abdulaziz, the acting managing director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and chairman, executive board of the West African Power Pool (WAPP).

“The power we will be selling is the power that is not needed in Nigeria. These generators that are going to supply power to this transmission line are going to generate that power specifically for this project. So, it is an unutilised power,” he said.

The TCN also defended the action by saying the export of electricity from Nigeria to other nations was a means of earning more foreign exchange for the country’s development.

However, the National Secretary, Nigeria Electricity Consumer Advocacy Network, (NECAN), Uket Obonga, while speaking to the Punch, rejected the idea of selling power to outsiders while the citizens are deprived of electricity due to insufficient power supply.

According to Obonga, about 90 million Nigerians are not connected to the national electricity grid out of about 220 million Nigerians according to a world bank report.

“You have a large family and your resources are very meagre to take care of them. Meanwhile, your people are starving of hunger, and the little resource that you have, you say you are exporting it. How can that be explained?” He added.

Obonga also frowned at the FG’s decision to sell out electricity despite the fact that Nigerians were willing to pay for the commodity.