UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Nigeria of failing to convert its oil wealth into reliable electricity, arguing that long-running power shortages stem from flawed public policy rather than a lack of natural resources. Her remarks come as the West African country continues to grapple with limited electricity generation years after it privatized its power sector.<\/p>\n
Badenoch made the comments in a recent interview with The Spectator, where she also discussed her upbringing and other topics. She said Nigeria\u2019s decades-long inability to deliver sufficient power is tied to policy choices that have prevented the country from benefiting fully from its hydrocarbon assets.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy belief that we need to drill our oil and gas comes from growing up in a country\u2026 Nigeria is an oil-producing country that has never had electricity,\u201d Badenoch said. She added that possessing resources underground is not the same as turning them into public services.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is very easy to have resources under the ground, but stupid public policy means that you can\u2019t use them,\u201d she said, linking Nigeria\u2019s power shortfalls directly to government decision-making.<\/p>\n
The criticism lands amid continuing concerns about electricity availability in Nigeria. Power generation in the country has generally stayed in a relatively narrow band\u2014between roughly 3,500 megawatts and 5,000 megawatts\u2014despite a population of more than 250 million people.<\/p>\n
In parallel, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signaled that tackling the sector\u2019s problems remains a priority. During his Democracy Day address, he said he would work to ensure that Nigeria\u2019s electricity challenges are addressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has accused Nigeria of failing to convert its oil wealth into reliable electricity, arguing that long-running power shortages stem from flawed public policy rather than a lack of natural resources. Her remarks come as the West African country continues to grapple with limited electricity generation years after it privatized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Kemi Badenoch on Nigeria Power Shortages and Oil Wealth","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Kemi Badenoch says Nigeria\u2019s power shortages aren\u2019t an oil problem but a policy failure, as the country struggles to turn energy w","mma_seo_breadcrumb_text":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_url":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_hide_ui":"","mma_seo_breadcrumb_labels":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n