By Bassey Udo
The Federal Government and the National Assembly have reaffirmed their support and commitments to support the complementary regulatory roles in the emerging multi-tier Nigerian electricity market.
Both the Special Adviser to the President on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power Sector Reset and Restoration, Mr Rilwan Lanre Babalola, and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, spoke on the issue at a workshop in Abuja on ‘Legal, Policy and Regulatory Harmonisation between Federal and State Institutions on the Decentralisation of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI)’.
In his remarks, Babalola described electricity as the foundation for industrialisation, economic competitiveness, job creation and national prosperity in every society.
He tasked participants in the workshop to embrace the transition arrangement in the sector as partners working towards one Nigerian electricity market, rather than institutions protecting separate jurisdictions and interests.
“Every major reform creates new opportunities. It also creates new interfaces. As Federal and State institutions assume their respective responsibilities, questions will naturally arise regarding regulatory boundaries, market oversight, technical standards and commercial arrangements. That is not a weakness of the reform. It is the natural consequence of institutional evolution,” Babalola said.
He said the responsibility of the different stakeholders, including the government, is to ensure that these questions are resolved through dialogue, cooperation and mutual respect.
The Electricity Act, he pointed out, decentralises aspects of the governance framework and not the physics of electricity.
He said while the electricity supply networks remain interconnected, the markets remain interdependent, while prosperity as a result of the efficient operation of the system remains shared by all stakeholders.
“That is why harmonisation is not optional. It is fundamental to preserving one efficient Nigerian electricity market,” Babalola argued.
Also, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Enyinnaya Abaribe, reaffirmed the Committee’s commitment to an enabling law that permits the Federal and State electricity regulators to perform complementary roles to ensure the effective and efficient sector
The lawmaker said the ultimate goal of the success of the decentralisation exercise should not be measured merely by the number of States that established electricity markets, or obtained transfer orders, but by whether Nigeria achieves a coherent, efficient, bankable and integrated electricity market where federal and State institutions perform complementary rather than competing roles.
“Consequently, we require harmonised rules governing the relationship between NERC and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions,” Abaribe noted.
Also at the workshop, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Dr. Musiliu Oseni, stressed the need for harmonisation of regulatory and operational activities to realise the objectives of establishing an efficient Nigerian Electricity Market (NEM).
