INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is a country with a population of over 170 million; it is rightly the most populous country in Africa and the eighth most populous country in the world. According to the United Nations, one in six Africans is Nigerian. It is a regional power, listed among the “Next Eleven” economies, and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was revised in 2013. As a consequence of the re-basing, the estimate for Nigeria’s

GDP in 2013 was revised upward from 42.4trillion Naira to 80.2trillion Naira ($500 billion), an 89% increase. But for over two decades, Nigeria has experienced problems in the area of electricity generation, transmission and distribution. The extent of this is underlined by the fact that Nigeria is the largest purchaser of standby electricity generating plants in the world. (Braimoh and Okedeyi 2010). The population growth rate is projected to be between 2.5 and 2.7% per annum in the next 20 years. The population of Nigeria is therefore forecast to potentially grow to 310 million by 2035.

From the forgoing, we could say, in informal terms, that Nigeria is beginning to have an impressive resume when it comes to population and economical growth. But has this growth been reflected in the electric power sector of Nigeria? Well to answer that, let’s take a look at the data gathered by the IEA showing the electricity generation in (GWH) in Nigeria and compare this with her peer developing economies like India and South Africa for the past twenty years.