![]() When Nigerian business owners buy and maintain their power infrastructure, they have to juggle and stave off numerous potential problems. For businesses and manufacturers, generating your own electricity that meets specific specs at a viable price is a burden that goes beyond what the “Ease of Doing Business” reports say. That is more than twice what a business pays for grid power (40 naira/kWhr).īut, the toll inflicted on business owners is more than meets the eye. When businesses add up the hidden expenses - the generator’s depreciation, maintenance, and personnel - the total cost of electricity generated by a diesel generator can go as high as 120 naira/kWhr. ![]() The lack of a working grid leads to high financial costs. It is common knowledge that the chronic power shortage is an extraordinary impediment to the development and growth of Nigeria’s private sector. (This is based on a common industry metric that for every one million people, an industrialized country needs 1,000 MW of electricity.)įaced with an undependable grid, Nigerians businesses are forced to provide their own electricity using diesel generators. That is a mere 10% of the power generation capacity of South Africa - a country with a third of the population (55 million) and smaller economy ($0.767 trillion GDP PPP adjusted).Īccording to a report from PwC, Nigeria should produce around 200,000 MW (200 GW) given its size. Some estimates are even lower.ĭespite having Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest population (200 million) and economy ($1.1 GDP PPP), Nigeria’s large-scale power stations produce only 5.3GW of grid electricity. Nigeria’s grid has a total generation capacity of 12,522 MW but it only manages to deliver 4,000–5,000 MW. Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, rich in oil and gas, it has struggled to boost its electricity supply since independence in 1960. Nigeria’s power deficit is a well-known paradox. Glo has no choice but to supply its own power Nigeria doesn’t produce enough electricity. The exhaust pipes, recalling early industrial revolution smokestacks, belch clouds of exhaust and fill the air with an acrid smell. All day long, they emit a low rumbling sound that reverberates down the street. ![]() Two generators, housed in large blue and white containers emblazoned with big letters ‘SDMO’, produce 2,000 kVA of electricity each - enough to power 500 houses. Giant diesel generators that power the energy-hungry data and call centers assault the senses. In addition to creating a mini informal economy, the call centers dominate this small corner of Victoria Island in another way. They all compete to grab the attention of the call center employees waiting to board the buses. From the back seat of a red station wagon, an enterprising business woman waits to entice a client with Ankara fabrics and shoes. An elderly woman sits on a blanket next to the main gate, displaying her wares (bananas and peanuts) for sale. Two street food vendors sell Indomie noodles, sandwiches, and boiled eggs from a makeshift table. The call centers are the center of the universe for this tiny slice of Lagos’ business district. ![]() It is on this nondescript side street that Glo, a large telecoms company, houses its data and call centers. Were it not for the small Glo sign at the gate, one would have to guess what was inside the two stark buildings, their only decoration being marble columns. A group of women, dressed in brightly colored blouses and tailored pants, stream out of the gated compound. But, the toll inflicted on business owners is more than meets the eye.Įvery evening at 6pm, a fleet of white Toyota coaster buses pulls up to two austere buildings dwarfing a back street in Victoria Island. Everyone knows that Nigeria’s decrepit grid is an extraordinary impediment to the private sector’s development. ![]()
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