The abandoned dams

CONSIDERING the rate of incidents and attendant nationwide effects, Nigeria’s national grid collapses have almost lost the tendency to shock anyone. Between 2024 and 2025, the country recorded more than 10 national grid collapse incidents. Barely six weeks into 2026, there have already been two of such incidents. The accompanying grim statistics continue to cause concern, and this is extremely disturbing because Nigeria has amassed a generous number of dam initiatives, albeit on paper. Hydropower dams hold a significant key to the country’s electricity generation status. Nigeria has an impressive number of dam projects scattered across the federation, but most of them are failed projects. The neglect of the projects meant to provide water, support irrigation and generate electricity is most unfortunate, because they are even inadequate in the first place. Nigeria has only 408 registered dams, comprising 142 large dams, 59 medium dams, and 207 small dams, whereas the United States has 92,000, and China 98,000.

Earlier in February 2026, BudgIT, a non-governmental organisation focused on ensuring accountability and transparency in government spending, launched a report entitled ‘The people and Government Oversight: Connecting the Dots in Service Delivery.’ The report, which was launched under BudgIT’s Tracka, an initiative which tracks how public funds are channeled, presented quite staggering realities. A major highlight is abandoned projects, with particular reference to dams across the country. The report, which covered a 13-month period dating back to October 2024, highlighted 16 dam projects across several states, with a total of N432 million representing the total disbursement allocated to the projects. Payments dated as far back as 2021.

Several depressing keypoints were highlighted on the status of the projects: six were at implementation stages, although advancing at what the report describes as “unacceptably slow pace”; six were at minus zero percent starting phase; four were abandoned.  It becomes even more interesting that the dams in question are distributed across the country, with the states affected including Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Ebonyi, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Nasarawa, Oyo and Taraba. While Bauchi, Benue and Taraba had most of the abandoned projects, the situation in Benue, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara and Taraba is no less severe. The above statistics point to five dire issues: poor implementation, resource wastage, corruption, weak accountability and disregard for citizens’ welfare. For years, there have been knee-jerk reactions to dam projects, with hot air blown around rehabilitation, construction and completion. The current disappointing statistics within a less-than-two-year period leaves much to be desired. Questions arise over issues such as public service responsibility, contractual integrity, fund mismanagement, lack of governmental oversight, unemployment rates and poor citizen engagement.

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The country already runs short of acceptable standards on access to power. It doesn’t speak well that the 61 percent of Nigerians (as of 2023, according to statistics by Statista) who are said to have access to electricity continue to suffer from plagues that are largely surmountable. Nigeria needs to take urgent steps to tackle the frustrating cycle of wastage and poor implementation of critical infrastructure, including dams. The neglected dam projects portend a failing country: such dismal revelations expose the bare knuckles of an already bruised polity. For a country with a bleak economic outlook, it is sheer irresponsibility for public funds to be wasted.

The consequences of a constantly failing dam system are too heavy to ignore: from health to security, justice, business, education, the environment, communications, among others. Abandoned dams do not only represent infrastructural wastage, corruption, welfare neglect, economic carelessness and public trust deficit; they also constitute environmental hazards. This is not the time for long-standing committees or conference-initiated discourse that drags too much into theory with poor focus on action. BudgIT’s Tracka report offers a clear pathway towards plugging massive leaks and engendering improved quality of living for the over 100 million Nigerians who have access to electricity.

It cannot be cheering news that Nigeria has 58 percent of publicly funded dam projects stalled or abandoned, contributing to the country’s collapsing national grid. The grid reportedly collapsed 12 times in 2024. The abandoned dams are also a pointer to the possibilities that abound in generating access to electricity for the over 80 million persons who currently have next-to-zero access to electricity supply. The potential for improved job opportunities is clear. Millions in public funds have already gone down the drain with these dams. Nigerians deserve improved quality of living. The government holds a responsibility to ensure that approved projects are effectively executed, but citizens also have a duty to ask questions about the utilization of public funds. It is time for accountability.