Nigeria's 'neighbor debt' outrage misses real power fix: scale working model
The recurring headline that Benin, Togo and Niger owe Nigeria ₦17.45 billion for electricity is misleading outrage. That figure is merely a residual service charge covering regulator, transmission and market operator costs—not unpaid energy bills. Under 2019's Willing Buyer, Willing Seller framework, cross-border power trade runs on guaranteed bilateral contracts where neighbors pay via bank guarantees before receiving any power. The actual energy value (for ~350MW supplied) is settled separately and larger.
This distracts from a working model already scaling domestically: on June 28, 228MW flowed directly from generators to Nigerian factories, steel mills and processors under identical guaranteed contracts—bypassing broken distribution networks. Meanwhile, the sector's real crisis is the ₦6.8 trillion generators are owed due to distribution losses (30-40%), not neighbor debts. Regulators are already shifting distribution contracts to guarantee-backed models.
The opportunity is clear: expand this commercially disciplined model to agro-processing zones and commercial cities where creditworthy industries can pay for reliable power today. Stop recycling outdated outrage; support scaling what already works to fix domestic losses and boost industrial output.