“Up NEPA!” Few expressions capture the Nigerian experience better than these two words. They are shouted whenever electricity returns after an outage. Although the National Electric Power Authority ceased to exist years ago, its name remains firmly rooted in our vocabulary.
But have we ever stopped to ask a simpler question: How does electricity actually get to our homes?
Understanding that journey can help us better appreciate the challenges to reliable electricity supply in Nigeria. It can also help us understand why debates about tariffs, privatisation and sector reforms are often more complex than they first appear.
The purpose of this opinion article is to contribute to public education, particularly for Nigerians who are not specialists in the electricity sector. In the interest of simplicity, the terms ‘power’ and ‘electricity’ are used interchangeably.
Before we go further, it helps to know what certain words mean, because they come up repeatedly in any serious discussion about electricity in Nigeria.
