Today, Nigeria – ‘the giant of Africa’ – is marking its 59th independence anniversary but it is unable to keep the lights on.

I just checked official data and gathered that power generation in the country stood at 3,146.4 megawatts as of 6.00 am today. Can you beat that?

After almost six decades of being governed by our own people, debilitating blackouts are still the order of the day in most parts of the country.

The country achieved its highest electricity generation of 5,375MW on February 7, 2019 at 9.00 pm, according to data from the Transmission Company of Nigeria.

Our population (201 million) is more than three times that of South Africa, but we have less than a third of South Africa’s installed power generation capacity. We have 12,910.40MW, according to the TCN, compared to over 51,000MW in South Africa.

Ours is a country that has what it takes to produce sufficient electricity – which is essential for economic development – but has continued to fall behind in tapping its massive energy resources.

Aside from being Africa’s biggest crude oil producer, Nigeria boasts the largest natural gas reserves on the continent.

Only eight countries in the world – Russia, Iran, Qatar, Turkmenistan, United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela – have more gas than Nigeria.

The country has about 202 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves plus about 600 TCF unproven gas reserves, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

Sadly, only about 25 per cent of the nation’s gas reserves are being produced or under development. Worse still, a large percentage of the gas produced are exported.

READ MORE: https://thebelltimesng.com/2019/10/02/nigeria-59-trillions-of-gas-but-millions-in-darkness/

Nigeria on the way to being a failed state.