The Nigerian energy sector is crucial to the Nigerian economy. Its importance to the national economy and the lives of ordinary Nigerians has continued to increase steadily since petroleum was discovered in 1956. For a long period, the fortune of Nigeria has correlated quite significantly with the fortune of oil. Until recently, the oil sector accounts for over a quarter of the Gross Domestic Product, 70 per cent of Federal Government revenue and over 95 per cent of the country's export earnings.
In addition, the power subsector of the energy sector has also been a major source of concern to Nigerians. Electricity generation is significantly below the national requirement. Nigeria generates less than 5000MW for a population that exceeds over 170 million people. Hence, most of the country is dependent on personal generators and, to some extent, on inverters and solar for a small minority of the middle- and upper-income earners that could afford it.
The Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law, CPEEL, University of Ibadan, sees it as one of its core mandates to produce an annual report and outlook for the Nigerian Energy Sector. This will be complemented by the energy data and information system that the Centre is working on in order to provide Nigerians and others who are working on the Nigerian energy sector with information on key developments in the energy sector. A current effort at the Centre is the work on the penetration rate of modern energy system to households in Nigeria, a pilot study of which has just been concluded.
The current report provides an overview of the Nigerian economy in 2014 and 2015 and the key role played by the energy sector. Also, this maiden report covers developments in key energy subsectors of petroleum, and electricity as well as regulatory and institutional framework under which the sector operated in 2014 and 2015. Your comments on this first issue of the report will be very much welcomed.