Mining Electricity Not Diamonds
By Orjiako Ikechukwu Kingsley, MSc Energy Economics (Electricity Economics)
If there’s one thing that unites millions of Africans across borders, it’s not football or the jollof rice debates it’s the unending chorus of “light don go.” Power outages have become so routine that many households and businesses have internalized darkness as part of their daily budget. Generator fuel sits beside cooking oil; candles beside salt. But the hidden cost of this darkness goes far beyond inconvenience it’s an economic tragedy.
Every blackout isn’t just a flick of a switch gone wrong it’s GDP evaporating into thin air. A factory shut down for three hours means idle machines, lost wages, unmet orders, and reduced competitiveness.
In Nigeria alone, the Manufacturers Association estimates billions of dollars are lost annually to power outages. Ghana, despite recent improvements, still sees businesses dedicating up to 30% of operating costs to alternative power.
If electricity were a person, our economies would sue it for breach of contract. Walk down any African street at night and you’ll hear the national anthem of development: generators humming, coughing, and choking the air. Ironically, the same economies pledging climate action are running one of the most diesel-dependent informal power markets in the world.
The cost of self-generated electricity in Nigeria is two to three times higher than grid power. Imagine paying luxury prices for basic survival like buying champagne just to brush your teeth.
Africa’s tech boom thrives on optimism, but no startup can innovate on a dead laptop. Students can’t log into global classrooms when Wi-Fi routers are off. Hospitals can’t operate in a world where the lights themselves are on life support. Every blackout quietly whispers to investors: “Maybe not here. Not yet.”
If Warren Buffett were African, he wouldn’t be bidding for another luxury hotel in Lagos, a fuel station in Accra, or a nightclub in Nairobi. He’d be buying electricity like it was a diamond because in Africa, power is the real gem.
Yet investors chase everything else. Hotels where guests sweat when generators fail. Filling stations mushrooming across the continent, selling the very fuel we burn to substitute for failed grids. Schools charging exorbitant fees not just for knowledge, but to cover diesel for classroom lights. Clubs sparkling with imported generators humming in the background. These ventures may glitter, but in development economics, they’re cubic zirconia shiny, but hardly wealth-creating.
The irony deepens. Africans spend billions producing blockbuster movies to catch Netflix’s attention, and unspeakable sums filming five-minute music videos to chase Grammy recognition. Yet neither Netflix nor the Grammy Academy cares that there’s no light to stream or enjoy the content. Without reliable electricity, our “creative economy” runs on borrowed power.
Economists speak of multiplier effects. A dollar invested in electricity doesn’t just pay for wires and poles it powers hospitals, fuels industries, scales fintech, drives agribusiness, and allows SMEs to work beyond sunset. Electricity multiplies productivity across sectors. It is GDP in disguise.
Imagine a continent where investors treat power like diamonds scarce, precious, and worthy of careful mining. Solar farms, hydro dams, wind corridors, and community mini-grids aren’t charity projects they’re wealth-generating assets.
Electricity is the only commodity where demand is insatiable and supply shortage cripples every other investment.
The choice is simple: do we keep spending billions on ventures that glitter briefly, or do we finally channel capital into the diamond investment electricity the one sector that can illuminate everything else?
In the end, the true mark of progress isn’t a Grammy award or a Netflix premiere. It’s a nation where every household can simply switch on the light.
The Way Forward
The solution isn’t rocket science. Countries that escaped the darkness trap invested in reliable grids, encouraged private sector competition, and treated electricity as the backbone of development not a luxury for the elite. If agriculture feeds the stomach, electricity feeds the economy.
It’s time to stop worshipping darkness and start demanding more kilowatts. But government alone can’t fix this. Individuals and communities have a role too:
- Adopt Renewable Energy: Small solar kits and home inverters reduce pressure on the grid and prove clean power is possible.
- Practice Energy Efficiency: Use energy-saving appliances, switch off idle devices, and embrace efficient building designs.
- Build Community Mini-Grids: In rural areas, locals are pooling resources for shared solar stations—proof that citizens can light their own path.
- Demand Accountability: Consumers must speak up, join energy advocacy groups, and hold regulators to their promises.
Darkness thrives where silence lives.
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