While power crises persist in Africa with many heads of governments placing priority on power generation, the need for energy conservation through efficient lighting can be a short-term solution. This paper compiles the power supply and consumption pattern from lighting of six cities and towns in North Central Nigeria. A total of 1637 residential households were surveyed. Each compound had 2 to 4 houses. Most of the households surveyed had a combination of modern and local buildings such as huts. The work revealed that the predominant form of electricity consumption is in lighting. Electricity supply is found to last for an average of 5 days a week and 9.8 h a day. The major electric lighting source is the 60 W and 100W incandescent bulbs, but a significant population uses both incandescent and energy efficient lamps (e.g. compact fluorescent lamps, CFLs) for their lighting needs. In the absence of public power supply, kerosene and low power generators are used as alternative sources for lighting. The number of kerosene lamps in a residential compound was found to be 3 or more. About 70 per cent of power generated in Nigeria can be saved if efficient lighting sources such as CFLs and solid state lighting are urgently adapted. Also, an estimated 796.4 billion naira (US$4.98 billion) will be saved annually from fuel to power electric generators if they are replaced by solar- based lighting. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.