Stakeholders hail Buhari on law to allow states generate, transmit electricity

By Adewale Sanyaolu

Power sector stakeholders have hailed President Muhammadu Buhari, decision to sign a constitutional amendment to allow states to license, generate, transmit and distribute electricity.

Buhari, had last week signed into law the constitutional amendment allowing states in the country to licence, generate, transmit, and distribute electricity.

This was made known in a tweet by the presidential media spokesperson, Tolu Ogunlesi, on Friday.

He tweeted, “President #MBuhari has signed 16 constitution amendment bills into law. By this signing, State Houses of Assembly & judiciaries now have constitutionally guaranteed financial independence, while railways have moved from Exclusive Legislative List to the concurrent list.

“Another landmark change: By virtue of the presidential assent, Nigerian states can now generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. (This) wasn’t allowed pre-amendment. This is genuine, realistic restructuring — through the constitution.”

The Senate had in July 2022 passed the Electricity Bill 2022 to allow States and individuals to generate and distribute electricity.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswam, said the bill will help policy and regulatory measures to improve power generation, transmission and distribution capabilities of the sector.

‘‘Since electricity is on the concurrent list in the constitution, the bill has allowed State governments to license people who intend to operate mini-grids within the states,’’ he said.

The bill also gives legal backing to renewable energy. If you decide to generate one megawatt of power using solar as an energy source, that is also provided for.

That is the only way the power problem would be solved. The space is now open; there is little restriction as to who can generate power and distribute it.

What is obtainable now is that any power that is generated must be put on the national grid for transmission and distribution.”

Commenting on Buhari’s move to liberalise the power sector, Managing Director of Tripod Industrial Services, a firm that specialises in power plants installation of repairs, Mr. Ademola Raheem, even though long overdue, the decision is a step in the right direction.

Raheem added that the latest effort by President Buhari should be taken a step further by breaking down the national grid into regions with possibility of reconnecting if there is a severe electricity shortage in a zone and connected to a zone that has surplus.

Also speaking, Group Chief Executive Officer, Power Solutions Nigeria Limited, Mr. Kehinde Solebo, hailed Buhari, for putting the power sector on track before he leaves office.

He explained that the power sector is so troubled that the idea of running a national grid for entire country was no longer sustainable.

Solebo maintained that the new law will open up the power sector further for fresh investments and job creation, saying States will no begin to make investment or partner with private enterprise to provide the needed infrastructure for the industry.

‘‘It remains a national embarrassment that a country with over 200 million people was still struggling with less than 6,000MW of electricity. But I believe this new law will change the narrative.”