The World Bank has noted that Nigeria’s inadequate power supply costs businesses about $29 billion annually.

The bank presented its findings from its ‘Power Sector Recovery Programme’ factsheet during a virtual meeting with journalists on Wednesday.

Ashish Khanna, the bank’s practice manager for West and Central Africa Energy, noted, “Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity. Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of the electricity they receive.”

In the presentation, it was noted that the power sector is currently unable to adequately respond to energy demands as only 51 per cent of the country’s installed capacity is available for generating electricity.

The document noted that the average Nigerian consumed four times less energy than their counterpart in a typical lower middle-income country. It further claimed that the Nigerian government helped its poor citizens to pay electricity bills.

Muhammad Wakil, the senior energy specialist for the bank, stated that Nigeria now has the largest number of “unelectrified” people globally.

In February, the bank approved $500 million to support Nigeria in improving its power supply through a large-scale metering programme.

The bank declared that about 85 million Nigerians had no access to electricity, making the country of 200 million people the “largest energy access deficit in the world.”

Peoples Gazette had reported instances of rolling blackouts in the country, despite the power ministry announcing growth in the country’s power generation capacity.