Report: Only 58% of Nigerian Households in Nine States Connected to National Grid, 67% Still Use Firewood

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Contrary to government’s claim that it is making good efforts in providing the country with safe and efficient sources of energy, a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), has indicated that while only 58 per cent of Nigerian households are connected to the national electricity grid, over 67 per cent still depend on wood fuel for their various needs.

The just-released 2024 Nigeria Residential Energy Demand-Side Survey (NREDSS) report by NBS, is the maiden edition of the energy demand survey conducted to provide an understanding of household energy acquisition, usage, and expenditure.

The survey, carried out in nine states, canvassed information from households on the acquisition of energy sources such as fuel wood, charcoal, agricultural residues, liquefied petroleum gas, among others.

Among the surveyed states, the NBS found that fuel woods were still commonly deployed, with 67.8 per cent of households using the fuel either for domestic, agricultural, commercial, cultural or religious purposes.

The states surveyed included: Ekiti, Oyo, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Kwara, Plateau, Kano and Enugu.

Among households using charcoal, 21.6 per cent purchased the product, only 0.3 and 0.6 per cent acquired it through own production, and other means respectively.

Furthermore, the results showed that 19.4 per cent of households reported using LPG or cooking gas during the reference period. This means that about one in every five households use LPG, according to the report.

The average monthly expenditure on LPG, according to the survey, stood at N10.2 billion across the surveyed states.

“Over 58 per cent of households are connected to the national grid across the nine states surveyed, and 86.6 per cent had electricity supply during the reference period. Out of the total households connected to the national grid, 85.2 per cent used an estimated billing system while 14.8 per cent reported using a pre-paid billing system.

“In addition, the average monthly expenditure of households on electricity was estimated at N4, 155.8 during the reference period,” the NBS report stated.

Although Nigeria is rich in all key fuels, including petroleum as well as favourable alternative energy sources like solar and wind, the country has not been able to fully harness these  God-given resources due to lack of investment.

Overall, of the 58.2 per cent of households from the surveyed states, 79.7 per cent was connected to the grid in Ekiti state, and 77.3 per cent in Oyo State.

 About 1 out of every five households in Sokoto was also found to be connected to the national grid, with households in the southern part of the country more likely to be connected to the national grid than the Northern households.

Among households connected to the national grid across the nine states covered in the report, 86.6 per cent had electricity supply at one point or the other in the last 30 days on an average of 6.6 hours per day.

Disaggregation by state showed that Plateau State had the highest electricity supply with 95.7 per cent, closely followed by Sokoto State with 95.1 per cent, and Ekiti State had the lowest with 66.6 per cent.

Further analysis on the states about estimated billing system, revealed that Bauchi State recorded the highest with 97.9 per cent, followed by Sokoto State with 97.3 per cent and Plateau State had the lowest with 69.1 per cent.

On the other hand, Plateau State had the highest for pre-paid billing system with 30.9 per cent, Oyo State with 27.6 per cent, and Bauchi State was the lowest with 2.1 per cent.

The findings showed that 4.8 per cent of households across the surveyed states had access to solar electricity at home. Among those that had access to solar systems in their homes, 90.9 per cent of households had solar home systems and 9.1 per cent were connected to solar mini-grid with average unit of installed capacity of 33.7 KVA (Kilo Volt Amp) and 66.3 kW (Kilowatts).

However, the NBS said it observed that overall accessibility to solar electricity supply in the last 30 days prior to the survey was 97.7 per cent on the average of nine hours per day.

Also, 16.5 per cent of households with solar electricity supply reported that they were billed on the average amount of N7,037.00

Based on the findings from the survey, the report said that traditional biomass (fuelwood, agricultural residues and dung) remained widely used for cooking and heating in an unsustainable and unsafe manner, recommending that re-planting of trees should be promoted for sustainable production.

The government, it said, should support the development and distribution of efficient cooking technologies such as improved stoves to reduce fuel consumption and emissions in place of the inefficient three-stone technology commonly used.

Besides, it stated that the government should provide incentives and training programmes for farmers, business people and communities to be aware of the consequences of deforestation and the benefits of reforestation.

“Penetration of modern biomass is low, so there is a need for more sensitisation across the board about its merits as a cleaner energy. Gas has been identified as a transition fuel in Nigeria. The establishment of more LPG stations is required, particularly in rural areas to increase accessibility.

“Standardisation of the ‘roadside/neighbourhood’ LPG (cylinder-to-cylinder) vendors is crucial to regulate the cost of the product. Promotion of local production of gas cylinders and other accessories with added value to lower the end-user’s cost and create jobs is desirable,” the report added.

It recommended that the government should develop and implement incentive schemes to support low-income households in the transition to LPG or cooking gas.

“The survey findings show that energies such as kerosene, biogas, ethanol and coal are not commonly used by households, hence, they were not reported,” the NBS report pointed out.