NBET and the looming debt crisis that's keeping your lights on

NEPA wasn’t always so bad. 

Sure, there has never been a time when the entire country had access to constant electricity. But at least, there was optimism in the 1970s. 

In the ten years between 1970 and 1980, power generation increased by more than 300% from 176 MW/h to 815 MW/h. That was a significant improvement back then. After that, though, hope started to fade. 

Problems such as low investment and inadequate maintenance hindered electricity generation from the 1980s, and power infrastructure started to crumble. The Nigerian government threw money at the problem, but there was no significant improvement. 

Meanwhile, there was a privatisation fever warming up the country. 

By the year 2000, the telecommunications sector had opened up to privatisation, and the industry appeared to be thriving. 

Before privatisation, telecommunication services were expensive, and there were fewer than 500,000 telephone connections in the country. At that time, Nigeria had