The British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Gill Atkinson has said that the new provision for state governments to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity is critical in reducing the energy deficit in Nigeria.
She disclosed this in Abuja at the just concluded two-day roundtable meeting on Nigeria’s Electricity Act 2023 jointly convened by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the British High Commission.
Atkinson maintained that it was time for the federating states “to explore new opportunities to scale up electricity and deliver it to more Nigerians”.
The meeting with the theme: ‘The Electricity Act 2023: Implications and Opportunities for State Electricity Markets,’ was facilitated by the United Kingdom Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF), to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats linked to the new Electricity Act 2023 and strategies for navigating emerging challenges.
A communique at the end of the roundtable stated that the meeting agreed on the need for the state governments to identify and prioritise opportunities for joined-up initiatives at the regional level to ensure cohesive implementation of the Electricity Act.
It further stated that the meeting identified the next steps for the states to take for the effective implementation of the legislation. They include, “The development of transition roadmaps based on contextual stock take exercises, the deployment of broad-based professional expertise to build sector capacity and support the process and the identification of clear state-level market structures.
“Another key outcome from the Roundtable was consensus on the urgent need for the donor community and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to scale up their support to state governments, bearing in mind state-level contextual realities”.
The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRasak said state governments would be seeking the collaboration of other critical stakeholders in the industry for the full implementation of the legislation for the advantage of the states.
He noted that the state government would seek to achieve the following objectives – “capacity building, policy guidance, knowledge sharing and above all infrastructural/project development by supporting State governments in identifying and developing bankable projects in the electricity sector, ensuring that these projects meet the highest standards of technical, social, and environmental sustainability”.
