ABAKALIKI, Nigeria (FN), Nigerian activist Stephanie Shaakaa has sounded a stark warning that the country \u201ccannot grow in darkness,\u201d as persistent electricity shortages continue to cripple Africa\u2019s largest economy. Her remarks have sparked widespread debate among citizens, policymakers, and industry leaders, highlighting the urgency of reform in the nation\u2019s troubled power sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigeria, with an installed electricity capacity of about 13,000 megawatts, often delivers less than 4,000 megawatts to its more than 200 million people. Frequent grid collapses leave homes and businesses in blackout, forcing reliance on costly diesel generators. Economists say the crisis has stifled industrial growth, discouraged foreign investment, and driven up inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shaakaa\u2019s statement quickly gained traction online, with hashtags such as LightUpNigeria<\/strong> trending across social media platforms. \u201cWe are tired of being called the Generator Republic,\u201d one Twitter user wrote. On Facebook, small business owners shared stories of shuttered shops and mounting losses due to unreliable power supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Government officials insist reforms are underway, pointing to renewable energy projects and privatization efforts. But critics argue progress has been slow. Some lawmakers have called for declaring a state of emergency in the power sector, while governors in Lagos and Kano are exploring independent power projects to bypass federal grid failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stakeholders across industries echoed Shaakaa\u2019s concerns. The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria warned that industries cannot survive on generators alone. Health leaders reported surgeries conducted under torchlight, describing the situation as \u201cnational sabotage.\u201d Energy experts say Nigeria\u2019s abundant solar, hydro, and wind resources remain largely untapped due to poor leadership and weak infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaakaa\u2019s words have become a rallying cry for reform. \u201cElectricity is not a luxury, it is the foundation of modern life,\u201d she said. \u201cWithout power, Nigeria cannot grow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ABAKALIKI, Nigeria (FN), Nigerian activist Stephanie Shaakaa has sounded a stark warning that the country \u201ccannot grow in darkness,\u201d as persistent electricity shortages continue to cripple Africa\u2019s largest economy. Her remarks have sparked widespread debate among citizens, policymakers, and industry leaders, highlighting the urgency of reform in the nation\u2019s troubled power sector. Nigeria, with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":29968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3699,2,2096,776,4,478,8,458,3,1138],"tags":[12502,14241,1052,14242,14240,14245,10005,14239],"class_list":{"0":"post-29952","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-africa","8":"category-business","9":"category-economics","10":"category-educational","11":"category-featured","12":"category-financial","13":"category-jobs","14":"category-legal","15":"category-naija-news","16":"category-politics","18":"tag-electricity-reform","19":"tag-energy-policy-nigeria","20":"tag-manufacturers-association-of-nigeria","21":"tag-nigeria-power-crisis","22":"tag-renewable-energy-nigeria","23":"tag-social-media-reactions","24":"tag-stephanie-shaakaa"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/images-7.jpeg?fit=700%2C438&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29952"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29971,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29952\/revisions\/29971"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}