The Nigerian Electrical energy Regulatory Fee (NERC) has known as on the Federal Authorities to rethink its coverage on the utilisation of the $2 billion accessible to the Rural Electrification Company (REA), urging that a good portion of the fund be redirected towards addressing the persistent energy provide challenges going through Nigeria’s industrial hubs.
Talking on the NERC twentieth Anniversary Celebration held in Abuja, the Fee’s Vice Chairman, Dr. Musiliu Oseni, mentioned the federal government should undertake a extra deliberate coverage framework that helps industrial energy improvement if the nation hopes to attain sustainable financial progress.
The occasion, themed “Strengthening Energy Sector Governance for a Sustainable Future,” introduced collectively key stakeholders from throughout Nigeria’s vitality panorama to evaluate the sector’s evolution over 20 years of reform and regulation.
Dr. Oseni burdened that whereas the REA’s mini-grid initiatives have improved vitality entry in rural communities, they aren’t ample to drive industrialisation or financial prosperity.
“There have to be a deliberate coverage by the FGN to energy our trade for financial prosperity. You possibly can energy entry by means of Mini-Grids, however you’ll be able to’t energy your economic system to prosperity.”
He emphasised the necessity for the federal government to channel a part of the $2 billion REA fund towards end-to-end options that may strengthen electrical energy provide to Nigeria’s industrial clusters, stimulate productiveness, and create jobs.
NERC has unbundled monopolies
Reflecting on NERC’s journey over the previous 20 years, Oseni famous that the Fee had efficiently overseen the privatisation and unbundling of the previously state-owned monopoly, whereas creating key regulatory devices to enhance reliability, market governance, and shopper safety.
He mentioned relative to twenty years in the past, not lower than 30 per cent of the electrical energy shoppers have skilled vital enchancment of their electrical energy companies.
However by means of efficient regulation, he mentioned, the Fee has saved the Federal Authorities a number of trillion of naira in subsidies, thereby contributing to the improved fiscal place of the Federal Authorities.
Oseni, nonetheless, identified that Nigeria’s transmission infrastructure nonetheless requires substantial funding, noting that present fiscal realities make it not possible for the federal government alone to satisfy this funding want.
He due to this fact known as for a sturdy regulatory framework to draw personal capital into the sector, stressing that such measures would guarantee long-term stability, effectivity, and sustainability of the Nigerian Electrical energy Provide Business (NESI).
What you must know
NERC was established in 2005 beneath the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as a part of his authorities’s broader financial reform agenda. Created by means of the Electrical Energy Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005, the Fee was mandated to manage electrical energy tariffs, guarantee transparency in subsidy insurance policies, promote environment friendly and environmentally sustainable vitality practices, and develop in addition to implement requirements for electrical energy technology, transmission, and distribution in Nigeria.
On the twentieth Anniversary Celebration, previous and current Ministers of Energy, Senators, former NERC Chairmen and Commissioners, trade stakeholders, improvement companions, and employees of the Fee gathered to commemorate 20 years of NERC’s contributions to Nigeria’s energy sector transformation.
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