Lack of Access to Reliable Power Supply Still a Major Problem to Majority of Africans

Some call it power, some electricity and some call it energy but depending on how one chooses to call it, one thing comes out clear, it is a very fundamental component of economic development. Imagine a world without electricity, the cost of production would skyrocket, and imagine the pathetic conditions of our health facilities in absence of this important factor, electricity. Despite the fact that electricity is key for the thriving of the economy of a nation, Africa as a whole still faces a huge deficit of it, something that has often derailed the continent in terms of both human and socio-economic development.

In a survey done by Afrobarometer covering a total of 36 African countries, only four in every ten Africans enjoy reliable power supply. According to the survey, two thirds of Africans live in areas with adequate access to an electric grid but in some countries, as many as seven to nine out of ten Africans do not have electricity. On average, 60 percent of households are connected to the grid but this varies from country to country as in some African countries, there are households that are connected to the grid but that do not have lights.

On average, of the 60 percent of the households already connected to the grid, only 69 percent of them have operational electricity supply. The survey found that in Nigeria for instance, a total of 96 percent households are connected to electricity but only 18 percent of them have a reliable electricity that runs uninterrupted for long periods. On the other hand, of the 87 percent households connected to the grid in Ghana, only 42 percent have reliable power.

According to the survey, most Africans do not consider reliable power supply as an important problem that should be given priority. In all the 36 countries, Kenya included, only 13 percent of the correspondents (with Kenya at 8 percent) cited electricity as an important problem that needs to be addressed with unemployment and education taking 38 and 32 percent respectively.

There is dire need for African countries to adopt the use of alternative sources of electricity so as to expand as well as obtain reliable power supply which typically requires access to an electric grid. Kenya is placed in a better place where most citizens can have access to reliable electricity. The country was recently ranked eighth globally as a major producer of geothermal electricity and has a potential of producing up to 11,000 megawatts of power from geothermal, a move that will place it ahead of the United States of America which is the world’s top producer of geothermal electricity.

Article by Juma Fred.