Politically speaking, Nigeria operates a single electricity grid network to generate, transmit and distribute electricity to customers but over time, it has become obvious that the grid system is getting overwhelmed due to increasing demand for electricity by both residential and industrial customers as the country’s population is growing exponentially. Furthermore, the extant grid structure is ageing and becoming weak, although it should be stated that various rehabilitation and expansion projects are ongoing to up its wheeling capacity with the installation of more transformers across the country.
Politicians and analysts have advocated for a deregulation and splitting of the grid as the solution to the endemic power supply problem in Nigeria, which is ill-advised because the problem of poor electricity supply in Nigeria can only be solved with the adoption of a holistic approach across the whole value chain of improving generation, transmission and distribution.
As a critical national asset that traverses every nook and cranny of the country, decimating the grid could become counter-productive as the system offers other essential services far more than just the transmission of power. For instance, its installed optic fiber is used for communication and data transmission.
The most reasonable thing will be to sustain the grid and pursue off-grid solutions in order to bridge the energy gap and increase access to electricity in Nigeria. In Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are rapidly increasing investments in off-grid alternative power supply solutions as commercial centers like markets, hotels, filling stations and tertiary institutions are installing renewable energy within their business premises. Although Bhadla Solar Park, India with 2,245MW is the world’s largest solar plant, this phenomenon is gaining traction in Nigeria and some of the projects include Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi (8.25MW), Bayero University Kano (7.1MW), Tulip Cocoa Processing Ltd, Ijebu Mushin (2.35MW), Kumbotso solar power plant (10 MW).
Given the widespread reach of the national grid in Nigeria, its resources should be optimized instead of thinking of splitting it. There are towns and locations that can be quickly connected to the national grid while planning on how to improve power supply to such areas. This can be achieved by installing transformers and dropping existing lines to provide electricity to several towns and villages across the length and breadth of the country. Few examples include connecting transformers at towns where 330kV lines pass through to supply such towns and their environs.

The pursuit of a hybrid combination of grid and off-grid will provide a more effective solution to the issue of poor power supply in Nigeria and give the country the quickest means to making electricity readily available and more accessible to the citizens and not the destruction of one for the other.