Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has said Nigeria has failed to translate its vast oil resources into adequate electricity supply.
Badenoch disclosed this in a recent interview with The Spectator, where she spoke extensively about her childhood and other issues.
She argued that poor public policy is responsible for Nigeria’s decades-long electricity supply challenges.
“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.
“It is very easy to have resources under the ground, but stupid public policy means that you can’t use them,” she added.
Her comment comes as Nigeria continues to battle inadequate power supply years after the privatisation of the power sector.
Nigeria’s electricity generation has hovered between 3,500 megawatts and 5,000 megawatts for a population estimated at over 250 million people.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in his Democracy Day speech, said he would ensure that Nigeria’s power sector challenges are addressed.