Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Energy sector in Nigeria - statistics & facts
Nigeria is the most populous country and the largest economy in Africa. With its fast-growing population, the demand for energy increases and is key to unlocking further economic development. In 2022, the electricity demand in Nigeria amounted to 32.1 terawatt hours. This followed an upward trend observed since 2020. Nevertheless, a large share of Nigerian citizens remains excluded from electricity access. In 2022, just over 60 percent of Nigerians had access to electricity, leaving about 40 percent of the inhabitants in the dark.
Gas is the most dominant energy source
Nigeria ranked among Africa's leading primary energy producers, only slightly behind Algeria and South Africa. Around 4.45 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) of primary energy were generated in Nigeria in 2022. Observing the electricity generation per capita, there was a declining trend from 2016 to 2020. Between 2010 and 2016, the number of kilowatt hours per capita increased to 170, up from 155. By 2022, this increased to 147-kilowatt hours per capita. The overall decline could be explained by the power generation challenges Nigeria faces, which are, among others, transmission system constraints and power sector planning shortfalls. One of the solutions to these challenges are renewable energy sources. However, gas remained the most dominantly used source of electricity production in Nigeria. In 2023, approximately 32 terawatt hours of electricity production were generated from this fossil fuel, whereas just over eight terawatt hours came from hydropower.Increase in supply and consumption
With supply mainly coming from gas and hydropower, the number of gigawatt hours of electricity delivered increased slightly in 2021. That year, 35,654 gigawatt hours of electricity were supplied. Furthermore, electricity supply followed an upward trend between 2016 and 2021, despite a slight decline in 2019. Most of the supply was consumed by the residential sector. In 2020, nearly 60,000 terajoules of electricity were consumed by households, whereas 27,827 terajoules were consumed by commercial and public services. According to ÌÇÐÄÆƽâ°æ’s estimates, by 2025, private households and industries will consume roughly 166 kilowatt hours of electricity.Renewable energy share remains relatively low
Renewable energy not only contributes to decreasing the carbon footprint, but it might assist Nigeria in solving the power generation issues the country is facing in the future. In the last decade, the renewable energy capacity has remained relatively stable. Nevertheless, renewables in the total share of electricity capacity was generally low, noticeably increasing in 2023. That year, 20.9 percent of Nigeria's electricity capacity was derived from renewable sources, whereas in 2011, this amounted to 23.3 percent. However, with developing off-grid opportunities (such as solar), Nigeria might have an excellent market opportunity to save money for Nigerian homes and businesses and add their share to the usage of renewable energy.
