ROSEMARY IMOBHIO 
For months, electricity shortages have tested the patience of Gambians. Now, that frustration has spilled into the streets, with protests erupting across parts of the country over prolonged power outages. On September 7 and 8, demonstrators took to the streets after months of unreliable electricity, with some residents reporting outages lasting as long as 48 hours.
The protests quickly became confrontational. Demonstrators reportedly burned tyres and erected barricades, while police used tear gas as unrest spread around parts of Banjul and other areas. For many residents, however, the anger goes beyond the absence of electricity because the outages have begun to affect businesses, households and basic daily activities.
President Adama Barrow has acknowledged the severity of the situation. In a televised address, he said residents were dealing with extreme heat, food spoilage and prolonged electricity shortages, while attributing the crisis to record demand, equipment failures and reduced hydropower output. He has also described the situation as a national security issue, a description that shows just how seriously the government views the consequences of the crisis.
The government has announced measures aimed at addressing the problem. These include plans for additional generators and a 24MW generation unit, while a contract has also been awarded for a 50MW solar power plant. However, for citizens who have already spent months living with unreliable electricity, promises of future solutions may not immediately ease their frustration.
Electricity Is More Than Electricity
A functioning electricity system sits at the heart of almost every modern economy. When power becomes unreliable for extended periods, the consequences quickly spread beyond the walls of individual homes and businesses. Children struggle to study, businesses lose productive hours, food can spoil and hospitals must rely more heavily on alternative power sources.
The environmental consequences are also significant. When public electricity becomes unreliable, households and businesses often turn to petrol and diesel generators to keep essential activities running. Consequently, fuel consumption increases, emissions rise and operating costs become even more difficult for businesses and families already dealing with economic pressure.
That is why electricity should not be treated simply as another utility. It is closely connected to economic productivity, public health, education, environmental sustainability and quality of life. When the system fails repeatedly, citizens ultimately pay the price in more ways than one.
Nigeria knows this cycle painfully well.
Nigeria Has Normalised the Abnormal
Perhaps the most striking part of the Gambian protests is not that people became angry about electricity. It is that Nigerians can look at the situation and think, “But this is normal.”
For decades, Nigerians have built their lives around the possibility that electricity could disappear at almost any time. The generator is no longer viewed purely as an emergency device, but as part of the basic infrastructure of daily life for millions of households and businesses. In many homes and workplaces, the question is not whether there will be a blackout, but how long it will last and what will be used to replace the electricity.
That reality should concern us.
Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest populations and significant energy resources, yet the country continues to struggle with inadequate and unreliable electricity. Recent reporting has highlighted how gas shortages, ageing infrastructure, sector debt and weaknesses across the electricity value chain continue to restrict generation and supply.
In March 2026, CSR Reporters reported that gas shortages had pushed Nigeria’s electricity generation to around 2,898MW, with power plants receiving only about 43 per cent of the gas they required. The report also noted that debt within the electricity sector had reached approximately ₦6 trillion.
More recently, Nigeria’s grid is back to supplying around 4,000MW to a population exceeding 200 million people, leaving households and businesses heavily dependent on generators.
These figures are not simply statistics. They represent lost productivity, higher business costs and millions of Nigerians spending additional money to generate electricity privately.
Nigerians Are Remarkably Forgiving
There is another uncomfortable lesson in the Gambian protests. Nigerians are remarkably forgiving when it comes to poor public services, especially electricity.
We complain. We trend hashtags, criticise politicians and make jokes about NEPA. Then the electricity returns for a few hours, and somehow, life continues as if nothing happened. The cycle repeats until another blackout reminds everyone that the underlying problem was never actually solved.
Our resilience is admirable, but it can also become dangerous. A population that continuously adapts to government failure can unintentionally make that failure easier to sustain. Nigerians have responded to unreliable electricity by purchasing generators, inverters, solar systems and batteries, effectively creating private alternatives to a public infrastructure problem.
The result is a strange situation where citizens spend their own money protecting themselves from the failure of a system they already help fund through taxes, tariffs and other payments.
Instead of demanding a functional electricity system, many people now budget for fuel. Instead of expecting uninterrupted power, they calculate how much petrol they need for the week. Additionally, instead of asking when electricity will become reliable, they ask which inverter or solar system they can afford.
That is not resilience alone. It is adaptation to dysfunction.
Government Must Raise the Standard
Nigeria’s government should look at the events in The Gambia as a warning rather than simply another African news story. The lesson is not that Nigerians should protest every time the lights go out. Instead, it is that reliable electricity is fundamental to the relationship between citizens, businesses and government.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has continued to introduce measures aimed at improving service quality, network investment and reliability. Those efforts matter, particularly because the electricity sector requires reforms across generation, transmission and distribution rather than a single solution.
However, Nigerians ultimately need more than regulatory orders and policy announcements. They need measurable improvements in the amount of electricity generated, transmitted and delivered to homes and businesses. They also need stronger accountability when promised improvements fail to materialise.
If electricity tariffs increase, service quality should improve. If consumers pay more for power, they should not simultaneously be expected to purchase fuel because the public electricity system remains unreliable. That contradiction cannot continue indefinitely.
The Sustainability Question
Reliable energy is connected to social wellbeing, economic inclusion and environmental responsibility. This means the country’s power problems cannot be separated from its wider sustainability ambitions.
When businesses depend heavily on diesel generators, their operating costs increase while their environmental footprint grows. Households face a similar problem when petrol generators become the only reliable alternative. Therefore, improving the electricity system is not merely an economic objective. It is also an important part of reducing emissions and building a more sustainable economy.
The contradiction becomes even clearer when Nigeria’s ambitions around cleaner transportation are considered. The country is increasingly discussing electric vehicles and other forms of cleaner mobility, yet weak electricity supply remains a major obstacle to the expansion of electric transportation.
You cannot realistically build a modern low-carbon economy on an unreliable electricity foundation. At some point, the energy system itself has to become a central part of the sustainability conversation.
The Gambia’s Warning for Nigeria
The protests in The Gambia should therefore make Nigerian policymakers uncomfortable. Not because Nigerians are necessarily preparing to copy Gambian protesters, but because the events demonstrate how quickly electricity can move from being an economic issue to becoming a political and social one.
Electricity determines whether a child can study comfortably at night. It determines whether a small business can operate efficiently, whether food can be preserved and how much money a family spends each month. It can even influence whether an investor believes a country has the infrastructure required to support production.
President Barrow’s decision to describe the Gambian electricity crisis as a national security issue is particularly significant. Nigeria should recognise the broader lesson because an unreliable power system can undermine economic stability, increase household pressure and weaken confidence in public institutions.
Most importantly, governments should not depend indefinitely on the patience of their citizens. Nigerians have demonstrated extraordinary resilience for years. We have found ways to work through blackouts, power businesses with generators, charge phones at neighbours’ houses and keep homes running when the national grid fails. We have laughed about it, complained about it and adapted to it. But resilience should never become an excuse for poor infrastructure.
The Gambian protests offer Nigeria an opportunity to reconsider what it has accepted as normal. Nigerians should not have to be praised for surviving problems that government has a responsibility to solve. The Nigerian people have adapted to darkness for too long. Government should work harder to ensure they no longer have to.
Nigeria’s energy crisis is bigger than the power supply. It affects businesses, households, public health, sustainability and economic growth. Follow CSR Reporters for more evidence-led stories on energy, business, sustainability and the issues shaping Africa’s future.
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