Nigerian households suffer severe electricity blackouts 6.7 times per week – NBS

BUSINESS DAY NG

Nigerian households experience an average of 6.7 electricity blackouts weekly, with each outage lasting 12 hours, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has reported.

The NBS, in its fifth ‘General Household Survey Panel’ in collaboration with the World Bank, surveyed 4,715 households across Nigeria. The report highlights significant challenges in energy access, particularly in rural areas where electricity infrastructure remains sparse.

The report shows that urban households face an average of 6.4 blackouts per week, each lasting about 12 hours, while rural households endure 6.9 outages weekly, with each lasting 12.1 hours.

Regional differences reveal that southern zones report longer blackout durations exceeding 12 hours, whereas northern zones experience shorter outages lasting less than 11 hours.

The report read: “On average, a Nigerian household experiences electricity blackouts 6.7 times per week. Each outage lasts 12.0 hours on average, leading to a total of 67.2 hours of blackouts over seven days. There are no significant differences between urban and rural households.