Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK Conservative Party, has blamed poor public policy for Nigeria’s persistent electricity challenges despite its vast oil and gas resources.
Speaking in an interview with The Spectator, Badenoch reflected on her childhood experiences and argued that having abundant natural resources does not automatically translate into development.
“My belief that we need to drill our oil and gas comes from growing up in a country… Nigeria is an oil-producing country that has never had electricity,” she said.
According to Badenoch, ineffective government policies have prevented Nigeria from fully utilizing its natural resources to improve power supply and economic development.
“It is very easy to have resources under the ground, but stupid public policy means that you can’t use them,” she added.
Her remarks come as Nigeria continues to grapple with inadequate electricity supply years after the privatization of the power sector.
The country’s power generation has remained between 3,500 and 5,000 megawatts despite a population estimated at more than 250 million people, leaving millions of households and businesses dependent on alternative energy sources.
Meanwhile, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pledged to address the nation’s power sector challenges, assuring Nigerians in his Democracy Day address that efforts are ongoing to improve electricity generation and distribution.
