Part of the Social Norms and Accountable Governance (SNAG) project by the Africa Programme at Chatham House, which seeks context-specific solutions to address collective action problems like corruption, through an evidence-based understanding of the drivers that sustain these problems. https://www.chathamhouse.org/about/structure/africa-programme/social-norms-and-accountable-governance

1. Towards Collective Action on Corruption in
Nigeria: Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector

2. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 2
Nigeria’s Power Sector: Context
• Despite over a decade of power sector reform efforts in Nigeria, only 7.48 million households,
out of 40.6 million with electricity needs, are registered with a licensed power distribution
company (DisCo). In 2013, the Nigerian government unbundled the state-owned Power
Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), privatizing the generation and distribution segments of
the sector in an effort to address long-standing challenges.
• However, among on-going challenges are consumer-related concerns such as inefficient or
unavailable metering systems, non-cost reflective tariffs, electricity theft and equipment
vandalism.
• According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the country’s electricity
consumer population is about 7.48 million of which only 3.39 million are metered, leaving a
metering gap of over 55 percent of identified customer population (not including those illegally
connected to the grid). This means that only 18.4 percent of Nigerian households are on the
distribution network while 33.1 million households are either not connected to the grid or are
consuming electricity illegally.

3. 3Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs
Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector: Frequency
• Almost half (46.3%) of 5,300 respondents* who had come into contact with a power company
employee over the last year were asked to make an informal payment. In other words, there was
an almost 50% chance that a respondent or a household member would be asked to make an
informal payment during an interaction with a power sector employee.
51.2
30.2
22.4
75
34.4
27.9
57.5
35.3
56.9
29.6
71.7
45.2
34.2
30.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Adamawa Benue Enugu Lagos Rivers Sokoto FCT-Abuja
%ofRespondents
Frequency of Requests for a Bribe by a Power Company Employee
Contact with power company employee? Asked for informal payment?

4. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 4
Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector: Uneven Across States
• The group was not evenly distributed: respondents in Lagos alone make up 42.1% of the
subgroup. This suggests that bribery demands for the settlement of electricity bills,
reconnection, repair or complaints were a lot more prevalent in some states over others.
• The socio-economic make-up of the subgroup asked for payment was also skewed heavily
towards wealthier respondents (those much more likely to have homes with electricity and
connected to the national grid).

5. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 5
Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector: What People Think
• Q: Do you think that a power company employee should ask for an informal direct payment
instead of going through the formal process to settle an outstanding electricity bill, reconnection
fee, repair, or complaint?
• Respondents overwhelmingly think negatively about the practice – that power sector employees
should not ask for a bribe. This was due to a mix of both moral (~40%) and practical (~60%)
considerations.
0
20
40
60
80
100
Adamawa Benue Enugu Lagos Rivers Sokoto FCT-Abuja
%ofRespondents
Do you think that a power company employee should ask for an informal direct payment?
Yes No I don’t know

6. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 6
Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector: Lacking Legal Knowledge
• As well as generally underestimating the true frequency of the behaviour, around 20% of
respondents (n=1028) thought that making an informal payment was not illegal or did not know
whether it was illegal.
11.5
15.8
19.1
10.5
4.3
20.3
18.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
Adamawa Benue Enugu Lagos Rivers Sokoto FCT-Abuja
Percentage of respondents that did not know making an informal payment
to the power sector employee was illegal.

7. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 7
Potential Interventions: Petty Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector
• Anti-corruption measures focused on bribery related to electricity bills, reconnection fees, repair
or complaints should be targeted to areas where the behaviour seems widespread, such as
Lagos.
• Electricity consumers should be made aware that such payments are in fact illegal, and the
solicitation of an informal payment by a power sector company employee is unlawful.
• Communication (through NERC and DisCos) that increases awareness of tariff structures and
billing estimation procedures will be necessary to encouraging consumers to report incidences
of informal payment demands.

8. Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs 8
Potential Interventions: Corruption in Nigeria’s Power Sector
• Improvements in electricity services should also contribute to increasing consumers willingness
to pay for electricity usage and help galvanize communal disapproval of consumers with illegal
electricity connection.
• Any policies about payments should be made clear so that any individual power company
employee cannot take advantage of potential unawareness by being deliberately ambiguous with
respect to the status of the payment. Comprehensive communication campaigns can emphasize
the accessibility of information on billing and the ease of reporting and resolving billing disputes.

9. Thank you
Chatham House | The Royal Institute of International Affairs