ANALYSIS OF ENERGY POVERTY IN RAFI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Energy access is an essential tool for social and economic development of any nation. The energy thatmost people in developed countries enjoy is usually out of the reach of most people in the developingcountries, especially Nigeria. Energy access in Nigeria has urban and rural dimension; the situation iseven worse in rural areas than the urban centres. This study, therefore, examines energy access (EA)and its determinant in Rafi LGA of Niger State. The objective of the study is as follows; to assessresident access to electricity and clean cooking energy, measure energy poverty and assess thedeterminant of energy poverty. Energy access was measured using a multi-tier approach to energyaccess measurement developed by Nicolina Angelou for Energy Sector Management AssistantProgramme (ESMAP, 2014). Energy access in Rafi LGA was examined in ten (10) selectedcommunities, one from each of the ten (10) wards of the LGA. Households, enterprise, and communityinstitution forms the three (3) tiers of the community energy access levels, using graduatedmeasurement rather than binary measurement. A total of 447 copies of questionnaires wasadministered. The data collected are analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.Regression analysis was employed as an analytical tool to identify the determinants of energy povertyin the study area. The study shows that electricity access from the three (3) tiers of the communitiesvaries; households energy access index is (0.53), Enterprise (0.31), community institution (0.23),while the energy poverty for Rafi LGA stands at (0.29). The poor performance of energy access isoccasioned by poor access to clean cooking fuel (0.05) at household level. The regression analysisshows that 65.4% of energy access in Rafi LGA can be explained by years spent in school, age ofmarriage, age of household head, household size and the income of the household head. The studyconcludes that access to clean cooking fuel is by far the most pressing challenge to energy access inrural communities of Rafi LGA. Therefore, the study recommends that clean and affordable cookingfuel should be made available across the study area with proper awareness creation on the benefits ofusing clean cooking fuel. If energy access at the rural areas must be tackled, education and livelihoodof the people must also be improved.