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The precarious and pathetic situation of power supply in Nigeria was laid bare recently by the results of a power sector poll conducted and released by NOIPolls Limited for the First Quarter of 2014, showing that an average of 63 percent (43 percent +20 percent) of Nigerians have experienced no improvement in their power supply. The poll further reveals that 43 percent experienced a worsened state while 20 percent have no difference at all.
This poll lends credence to the thinking in some quarters that, though a good step in the right direction, the power sector reform in Nigeria is still far from realising its aim, which is to improve efficiency, encourage private sector involvement to fortify the power sector considered as Nigeria’s priority platform for development.
NOIPolls Limited, number one for country specific polling services in West Africa, works in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA) to conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria.
This power sector poll which was conducted between January and March 2014 involved telephone interviews of a random nationwide sample of over 3,000 phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical zones in the country. Its sample size gives about 95 percent confidence that the results obtained from the poll are statistically precise, within a range of plus or minus 3 percent.
The poll further reveals that an average of 63 percent (45 percent +18 percent) of Nigerians received less than five hours of continuous power supply daily with the majority (45 percent) receiving between 1-4 hours of continuous power daily and 18 percent receiving zero (0) hours of power supply.
A statement obtained by BusinessDay says an average of 79 percent of Nigerians use alternative sources to augment their power supply, adding that, of this group, majority (72 percent) reported they experienced an increase in their spending on these alternative sources.
Chuka Uroko
