Nigeria has overtaken the Democratic Republic of Congo with 25 percent of people without access to electricity, making it the country globally with the highest number of citizens that lack access to power.

This was revealed by the World Bank Group officials during a virtual engagement with power reporters in Abuja on the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP).

“Nigeria now has the largest number of unelectrified people globally and the trend is worsening; of the electrified, the supply is very unreliable with widespread blackouts,” said a presentation from the group.

It stated that electrification, which was growing at 1.1% yearly since 2010, has not kept pace with the population growth of 3% yearly. This has increased the deficit by 3 million people to 85m which is 57% of the population.

“Nigeria now has 25% more unelectrified people than the 2nd most unelectrified country (DRC – in absolute terms).”