World Bank lists Nigeria among countries with biggest electricity deficit

Despite the fact that a greater share of the global population gained access to electricity than ever before in the last decade, Nigeria still lags behind in this sector.

This was according to a report issued on Monday by the World Bank titled ‘Universal access to sustainable energy will remain elusive without addressing inequalities’.

The apex financial institution listed Nigeria among the three countries with the largest electricity deficits in the world.

According to the report, “Significant progress has been made since 2010 on various aspects of the Sustainable Development Goal 7, but progress has been unequal across regions.

“While more than one billion people gained access to electricity globally over the last decade, COVID’s financial impact has made basic electricity services unaffordable for 30 million more people, the majority located in Africa.

Read also: Nigeria gets $700m World Bank loan to tackle open defecation, water crises

“Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia had the biggest electricity access deficits, with Ethiopia replacing India in the top three.”

Nigeria was also listed among the top 20 countries that lacked access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking.

“Of the top 20 countries with greatest number of people lacking access to clean fuel and technologies for cooking, 10 are located in Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, Ghana, Niger).

“Six are in Eastern Asia and South-eastern Asia (China, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Viet Nam, the Democratic Republic of Korea) and four are in Central Asia and Southern Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan),” the report added.

By Mayowa Oladeji…

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