Electricity in Nigeria - statistics & facts

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. As of 2020, the nation's population amounted to just over 200 million. To meet the electrical energy needs of individuals in Nigeria, a high volume of production is expected. In 2020, around 35.7 thousand gigawatt hours of electricity were generated. This was very low in comparison to the level of electricity demand, which exceeded 29 terawatt hours in the same year. Moreover, the amount of energy that was supplied reached roughly 35 gigawatt hours in 2020. Visibly, more investments in electricity production are needed to bridge the existing demand-supply gap in the country.

Accessing electricity

Not everyone in Nigeria is able to obtain electricity for use. In fact, in 2020, slightly over 55 percent of the population had access to electricity. As of 2019, the absence of electricity was most prevalent in rural communities, as only 30 percent of them had access to electrical energy. In contrast, the share reached around 90 percent among the urban population. Moreover, households in the northeast and northwest zones were the most electricity-deprived in the same year . Therefore, it is not surprising that the two regions reported households owning the least number of electrical appliances in the country in 2020.

How does the country consume and benefit from electricity?

In Nigeria, the residential consumption of electricity is higher than that of industries. In 2019, while over 57 terajoules of electricity was consumed by residences, the amount reached below 15 thousand terajoules in terms of industrial consumption. Overall, the amount of electric power consumed per capita was estimated at roughly 161 kilowatt hours in 2022. Indeed, Nigeria economically benefits from electricity distributed and consumed both locally and outside its borders. In 2020 , it earned more than 80 million U.S. dollars in revenue from electricity exports. Moreover, as of the second quarter of 2021, Ikeja made the most monetary contribution to the country from electricity distribution.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Doris Dokua Sasu, Jun 29, 2023

Key insights

Registered electricity customers
11.1k
Revenue from electricity distribution
185bn NGN
Price of household electricity
23 NGN/kWh
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Electricity prices in Nigeria as of June 2022, by user group (in Nigerian naira per kilowatt hour)

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Prices of electricity in Nigeria 2022, by user

Electricity generation in Nigeria in 2020 and 2021 (in gigawatt hours)

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Annual electricity production in Nigeria 2020-2021

Distribution of electricity generation in Nigeria in 2022, by source

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Power production breakdown in Nigeria 2022, by source

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