Nigeria, May 7 -- Nigeria's power sector happens to be one of the knottiest sectors of the economy, daily driving consumers and administrators to despair. Electricity in the 21st century is something that has come to be taken for granted in many parts of the world, and yet here we are in Nigeria seemingly unable to figure it out. For millions of Nigerians, understandably, all that is seen and felt is a general oppressive failure - interminable blackouts, recurring news of the electricity grid collapsing, and the steep costs of alternative fuelling.

And yet, if one looks a bit more dispassionately, encouraging signs of progress can be seen here and there. One example: Two years ago, I went in search of grid collapse data in Nigeria, and f...