Nigeria Has No Electricity, Has Resources That Can’t Be Drilled Due To Stupid Policy – Kemi Badenoch

The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said Nigeria’s vast oil resources have failed to translate into a reliable electricity supply because of poor government policies.

Naija News reports that Badenoch, who spent part of her childhood in Nigeria before relocating to the United Kingdom as a teenager, said her experience in Nigeria shaped her views on energy policy, governance and the role of government in the economy.

She made the remarks during a recent interview with The Spectator, where she reflected on how her upbringing influenced her political outlook.

Speaking on energy policy, Badenoch said growing up in Nigeria made her believe that countries must be able to use their natural resources effectively.

She argued that having resources was not enough if government policies prevented citizens from benefiting from them.

“My belief that we need to drill our oil and gas comes from growing up in a country… Nigeria is an oil-producing country, never had electricity,” she said.

“It is very easy to have resources under the ground, but stupid public policy means that you can’t use it.”

Badenoch’s comments come amid long-standing concerns over Nigeria’s inability to provide stable power supply despite being one of Africa’s major crude oil producers.

The Conservative leader also criticised policies that, according to her, give too much control to the government in the name of managing the economy.

She drew a comparison between the energy policies being pursued by the UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, and the approach of Nigeria’s military governments in the 1980s and 1990s.

According to Badenoch, such policies often begin with promises of control and redistribution but end up damaging the economy.

“And I see quite a lot of what Ed Miliband is doing as being very much like what the Nigerian military dictatorships were doing in the 80s and 90s ‘the government is going to take control, we know what’s best, we’re going to redistribute’. Stupid ideas which eventually just bankrupt the country,” she said.

Badenoch said her political beliefs were strongly influenced by her experience of growing up in a poor country.

She noted that seeing the challenges faced by Nigeria helped her understand the importance of sound economic management and strong institutions.

“Fundamentally, my views about how we should run our country come from growing up in a place that was very poor. You grow up in a third-world country and you look at why it is termed ‘third world,’ and I don’t want that to happen here,” she said.

The British politician warned that poor policy decisions could weaken prosperous countries if leaders failed to protect the systems that made them successful.

Badenoch further argued that many people take Britain’s wealth, institutions and history for granted.

She said the country must make deliberate efforts to preserve and strengthen what she described as British culture.

According to her, Britain’s prosperity did not happen by accident and should not be undermined by policies that ignore economic realities.