New World Bank report has revealed that Nigeria is second to India on the list of countries with the highest electricity access deficit.
Whereas the deficit is for about 75 million people in Nigeria, it was 263 million persons in India.
Other countries on the list of nations with highest electricity access deficit are Ethiopia with 67 million; Bangladesh 62 million; Congo Democratic Republic with 55 million; Tanzania with 40 million; Kenya with 33 million; Uganda with 30 million; Sudan with 25 million; and Myanmar with 25 million people.
The new energy scorecard released by the bank showed that Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sudan alone have 116 million people without adequate electricity.
According to the report, energy access, efficiency and renewables are on the rise in many developing nations, but in places like sub-Saharan Africa, the energy situation is still grim and hundreds of millions remain unconnected.
Besides, about 80 per cent of the 111 countries studied have policies for more sustainable energy — meaning energy efficiency, access to energy and use of renewables — with 45 countries at advanced stages of policy-making.
World Bank linked access in poor nations to a financial issue in these countries, saying in many sub-Saharan Africa countries, people pay more than $500 to connect to the grid, while in another developing country, Bangladesh, the cost is as little as $22.
In the submission of a Senior Director and Head of Energy and Extractives at the World Bank, Riccardo Puliti, he said: “Africa has long been the least electrified, and power there cannot keep up with population growth. Those disparities won’t disappear without policies encouraging both private and public investment.”
Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All, a sustainable energy initiative launched by the United Nations in 2011, Rachel Kyte, said: “The world is in a race to secure a clean energy transition. The underlying message is that we must go further and faster.”
