20 min

Why do so many African countries struggle to maintain a supply of electricity‪?‬ Africa Daily

    • News

Today, we're shining a light on a topic that keeps many African nations in the dark – the struggle for stable electricity supply.

Africa has the lowest access to electricity in the world. Roughly half a billion people lack access to a stable power supply, including two of the continent's biggest economies — Nigeria and South Africa.

Recently in Sierra Leone, people faced longer than average blackouts in the capital city Freetown and other main cities across the country.

The reason behind these power cuts was because Sierra Leone owed $48 million to the Turkish energy company, Karpowership. Some of that debt has since been settled and electricity has been restored.

In today’s Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje has been looking at how frequent black outs impact life on the continent and what should be done to fix the problem.

Today, we're shining a light on a topic that keeps many African nations in the dark – the struggle for stable electricity supply.

Africa has the lowest access to electricity in the world. Roughly half a billion people lack access to a stable power supply, including two of the continent's biggest economies — Nigeria and South Africa.

Recently in Sierra Leone, people faced longer than average blackouts in the capital city Freetown and other main cities across the country.

The reason behind these power cuts was because Sierra Leone owed $48 million to the Turkish energy company, Karpowership. Some of that debt has since been settled and electricity has been restored.

In today’s Africa Daily, Mpho Lakaje has been looking at how frequent black outs impact life on the continent and what should be done to fix the problem.

20 min

Top Podcasts In News

The Global Story
BBC World Service
Global News Podcast
BBC World Service
COCKTAILS AND TAKEAWAYS
cocktails and takeaways
Nigeria Politics Weekly
@Nigeriasbest and @phoenix_agenda
The Intelligence from The Economist
The Economist
The Daily
The New York Times

More by BBC

Global News Podcast
BBC World Service
Focus on Africa
BBC World Service
Africa Daily
BBC World Service
The Documentary Podcast
BBC World Service
Learning English Vocabulary
BBC Radio
Football Daily
BBC Radio 5 Live