PUBLIC ELECTRICITY SUPPLY WILL SOON GO THE WAY OF PUBLIC WATER SUPPLY- Ndubuisi Anaenugwu
The Quiet Collapse of Essential Public Services and the Growing Burden on Nigerian Citizens.
There was a time when access to public water supply was regarded as a normal expectation of citizenship. Government was expected to provide treated water through public waterworks and distribution networks, while households and businesses depended on these facilities for their daily needs.
While growing up in my hometown of Enugwu-Ukwu, I remember with nostalgia how one Polycarp, who worked with the Water Board in nearby Nimo community, operated the public water supply system, regulating the distribution of water through its scheduled switching on and off.
Like a Reverend Father attending to his congregation, Polycarp discharged his responsibilities with remarkable dedication, discipline and zeal. He delivered this essential public service with a level of commitment, precision and efficiency that ensured considerable satisfaction among the people who depended on the system.
Sadly, the sustained development and expansion of public utilities in Nigeria suffered serious setbacks over the years. Military intervention in Nigeria’s political development contributed to institutional instability, policy discontinuity and the weakening of public-sector accountability. These challenges, compounded by inadequate investment, poor maintenance culture and successive governance failures, undermined the capacity of public institutions to sustain and expand essential infrastructure.
One cannot help but imagine what our communities might look like today if successive governments had consistently invested in expanding public water infrastructure and connecting households across the South-East and other parts of Nigeria. Such an investment was not beyond the country’s capacity. Beyond improving public health and living conditions, it would have created employment opportunities, stimulated local economic activities and generated significant multiplier effects across the economy.
Today, in many Nigerian communities, public water supply has become almost a forgotten concept.
Boreholes, water vendors, private water schemes and packaged water have taken over much of the responsibility that public institutions were established to fulfil. What was once regarded as a basic public service has increasingly become a privately financed necessity.
Unfortunately, electricity supply appears to be following the same trajectory.
The warning signs are increasingly difficult to ignore. Across Nigeria, households, businesses, schools, hospitals and even public institutions are investing in alternative electricity sources because the conventional electricity supply system can no longer be relied upon to provide consistent and predictable power. Solar installations, inverters, generators and private energy arrangements are gradually becoming necessities rather than luxuries.
What began as a response to occasional power interruptions is developing into a structural shift in the way Nigerians access electricity. Citizens are increasingly taking responsibility for providing their own power, just as they have had to provide their own water.
The question is whether Nigeria is witnessing another gradual collapse of public infrastructure.
From Public Provision to Private Survival.
The story of public water supply in Nigeria offers an important lesson. In many cities and towns, government-owned water facilities have either become dysfunctional, operate below capacity or fail to reach significant portions of the population. Consequently, individuals, households and communities have developed alternative arrangements to meet their water needs.
The proliferation of privately owned boreholes, water vendors and packaged water businesses is perhaps the clearest evidence of this transition. Access to clean water, which should ordinarily be supported by functional public infrastructure, has increasingly become dependent on individual purchasing power.
Unfortunately, a similar development is becoming increasingly visible in the electricity sector. Households and businesses that once depended almost entirely on the national grid are now investing in generators, solar panels, inverters and battery storage systems.
the troubling implication is that Nigerians are gradually becoming responsible for financing the infrastructure required to provide essential services that public institutions were originally established to facilitate.
The same pattern is becoming visible in the electricity sector.
A household that cannot depend on the national grid purchases a generator or installs an inverter. A business that must maintain operations invests in solar energy. Hospitals, Schools and other critical institutions make independent power arrangements because interruptions can have serious consequences.
Even small businesses that operate on limited profit margins must now factor electricity generation into their operating costs.
This creates an unfortunate situation in which citizens effectively pay twice: first, through the tariffs and charges associated with public electricity supply, and second, through the purchase, installation, maintenance and operation of alternative power systems.
For many businesses, the cost of generating electricity has become a major component of their operating expenses. These costs are eventually reflected in the prices of goods and services, contributing to inflation and reducing the purchasing power of consumers.
Nigeria’s electricity sector has undergone significant structural reforms, including the privatisation of generation and distribution companies. More recently, constitutional and legislative changes have opened additional opportunities for state participation and electricity markets.
However, privatisation of ownership and the privatisation of responsibility are two different things.
The emergence of private electricity providers should ideally produce greater efficiency, investment, competition and improved service delivery. It should not become an excuse for the gradual withdrawal of effective public oversight or the abandonment of the government’s responsibility to protect consumers and facilitate universal access.
The concern is that electricity supply is increasingly becoming an individual responsibility rather than a dependable public utility.
When citizens must independently finance the infrastructure required to enjoy basic electricity, the consequences extend beyond inconvenience. It raises questions about the social contract between government and the governed.
Government does not necessarily have to own every electricity-generating facility. However, it must create an environment in which electricity is accessible, reliable, affordable and available to all segments of society.
The Growing Divide between Those Who Can Afford Power and Those Who Cannot
One of the most troubling implications of this development is the possibility of a widening energy divide.
Wealthier households and established businesses can invest in solar panels, battery storage, inverters and other alternative systems. They can insulate themselves, to some extent, from the weaknesses of the national grid.
Low-income households, small traders and struggling businesses may not have that opportunity.
For such people, unreliable electricity means reduced productivity, additional expenses, interrupted education, food spoilage and restricted economic opportunities
.
The consequences are even more serious for healthcare facilities, where reliable electricity is essential for medical equipment, refrigeration, laboratory services and emergency care.
A country cannot build an inclusive economy when access to one of its most important productive resources increasingly depends on individual purchasing power.
Electricity should not become a privilege reserved for those who can afford to generate it independently.
Solar Energy: An Opportunity, Not an Excuse for Government Failure.
The growing adoption of renewable energy, particularly solar power, should ordinarily be celebrated.
Nigeria has enormous solar energy potential. With appropriate policies, investment, financing arrangements and technical capacity, distributed renewable energy can help address the country’s electricity challenges.
Mini-grids, embedded generation, independent power projects and household solar installations can complement the national grid and improve electricity access, particularly in underserved communities.
Nevertheless, the growing popularity of solar energy should not be interpreted as evidence that the public electricity system is no longer necessary.
A successful energy transition requires planning, regulation, technical standards, consumer protection and investment in transmission and distribution infrastructure.
Solar energy is part of the solution, but it cannot become a convenient justification for allowing public electricity infrastructure to deteriorate.
The objective should be to build a diversified and resilient electricity system in which the national grid, renewable energy providers, independent power producers and community-based electricity projects complement one another.
The Cost of Government Inaction.
The economic implications of unreliable electricity are enormous.
Manufacturing companies struggle with production costs. Small businesses spend scarce capital on alternative power. Farmers and agro-processors face difficulties preserving produce, operating processing equipment and maintaining cold chains. Educational institutions struggle to provide conducive learning environments, while healthcare facilities must make expensive arrangements to sustain essential services.
For an economy seeking industrialization, employment creation and sustainable development, reliable electricity is not optional.
It is foundational infrastructure.
The government, electricity regulators, distribution companies, generation companies and other stakeholders must therefore recognize that the problem goes beyond the number of hours of electricity supplied each day.
It concerns the quality, predictability, affordability and accessibility of the service.
There must be measurable performance standards, transparent accountability mechanisms, effective consumer protection and sustained investment across the entire electricity value chain.
Where service providers fail to meet their obligations, appropriate regulatory consequences should follow. Equally, electricity companies must operate within a framework that allows reasonable returns on investment while protecting consumers from unfair charges and poor service.
A Wake-Up Call for Nigeria.
The experience of public water supply should serve as a warning.
When public institutions fail to provide essential services over an extended period, citizens gradually develop alternative arrangements. Eventually, these alternatives become normalised, and society begins to accept as inevitable what should have been treated as a governance and development failure.
That is how public water supply lost its place in the everyday expectations of many Nigerians.
Electricity must not follow the same path.
The danger is not simply that Nigerians are buying generators, inverters and solar panels. The deeper concern is that society may gradually accept a situation in which reliable electricity is no longer expected from the public electricity system.
A nation cannot sustainably develop by transferring the cost of essential infrastructure to individual households and businesses.
Private investment and individual initiative are valuable, but they must complement, not replace, a functioning public infrastructure framework.
Conclusion: We Must Not Normalize the Failure of Essential Services.
Public water supply is a reminder of what happens when the deterioration of essential infrastructure is allowed to become normal.
Public electricity supply is now sending similar signals.
Nigeria must not wait until dependence on private electricity becomes so widespread that the restoration of a dependable public electricity system is treated as an unrealistic ambition.
The responsibility of government is not necessarily to provide every unit of electricity directly. It is to ensure that the electricity market works, that infrastructure is developed, that service providers are accountable and that citizens can access reliable and affordable power.
The ultimate measure of electricity sector reform should not be the number of private companies licensed, the number of solar panels installed or the volume of investment announced. It should be the extent to which ordinary Nigerians can access dependable electricity without having to build and finance an entirely separate power system for themselves.
Public electricity supply must not become another public service that Nigerians remember only as something government once provided.
The lesson from public water supply is already clear. We should not have and to learn it all over again with electricity.
Ndubuisi Anaenugwu
Good Governance Ministry(GGM)
