State governors across Nigeria have urged lawmakers to explicitly safeguard subnational regulatory powers in the upcoming statutory amendments to the Electricity Act 2023, warning that jurisdictional ambiguity between federal and state agencies could deter private investors and delay essential power projects.
The call was delivered on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, during the opening session of a two-day national stakeholders’ workshop titled “Empowering the States: Reviewing the Electricity Act 2023,” convened at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Speaking on behalf of subnational leaders, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq, stressed that ongoing legislative revisions must fortify, rather than erode, state-level governance over intrastate power markets.
He noted that clear legal boundaries are vital for preserving investor confidence, protecting consumers, and developing viable local electricity markets across the country.
Delivering the keynote address, Vice-President Kashim Shettima challenged state governments to transition from reliance on federal interventions toward building functional, self-sustaining electricity sectors.
To sustain momentum, Vice-President Shettima proposed establishing an annual national peer-review framework to track reform implementation, streamline regulatory hurdles, and spur private capital investments nationwide.
The Electricity Act 2023 originally dismantled decades of centralised control by permitting states to enact local legislation and issue generation, transmission, and distribution licenses within their geographic borders.
Since its enactment, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has systematically devolved regulatory oversight of intrastate operations to various state electricity regulatory bodies.
However, stakeholders at the summit cautioned that overlapping mandates among NERC, state commissions, and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) threaten to create regulatory friction, tariff disputes, and costly delays unless institutional roles are strictly defined in the upcoming amendments.
