Power deficit and weak broadband remain major barriers to Nigeria’s productivity ambitions
ABUJA — For millions of Nigerians, two modern necessities remain frustratingly unreliable: electricity and internet access.
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That reality has placed energy and digital connectivity at the centre of Nigeria’s development agenda, with the World Bank continuing to support programmes aimed at expanding electricity access and strengthening the country’s digital infrastructure.
The scale of Nigeria’s electricity challenge is enormous. The World Bank estimates that approximately 90 million Nigerians — about 45 per cent of the population — lack access to the electricity grid, giving Nigeria the world’s largest absolute electricity-access deficit.
Even Nigerians connected to the grid frequently contend with unreliable supply.
The World Bank estimates that unreliable electricity costs the Nigerian economy the equivalent of 5–7 per cent of GDP annually, as businesses increasingly depend on generators and other forms of self-generation.
Electricity is an economic issue
The electricity crisis is not merely about whether households can switch on a light.
For a Nigerian entrepreneur, unreliable electricity means diesel. For a manufacturer, it means higher production costs. For a student, it means studying under difficult conditions. For a hospital, it can become a matter of life and death. For a digital entrepreneur, poor electricity and weak broadband can make it impossible to participate competitively in the global economy.
This is why electricity and broadband increasingly need to be treated as productive infrastructure, not simply public utilities.
Nigeria’s digital gap
The World Bank has also highlighted significant weaknesses in Nigeria’s broadband infrastructure.
Its country diagnostic notes that only a fraction of international bandwidth arriving in Lagos is distributed across the country, while Nigeria needs substantial expansion of its fibre infrastructure. It also identifies a significant rural-urban digital divide.
That divide has serious implications for education, healthcare, financial inclusion, remote work, e-commerce and artificial intelligence.
The bigger development challenge
Nigeria’s population is growing rapidly. That means the country must connect millions of new citizens every year simply to prevent the existing access gap from widening.
The World Bank’s earlier electricity programmes have explicitly identified Nigeria as having the largest absolute electricity-access deficit globally, while supporting reforms designed to improve reliability and attract private investment.
The challenge now is implementation. Nigeria does not lack development plans. What Nigerians increasingly want to see is delivery.
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