Clean Technology Hub at the 6th National Council on Power (NACOP)

By Abel B.S. Gaiya

Nigeria continues to perform poorly in achieving universal energy access — with approximately 40% of the population, or 94 million people, lacking electricity. Grid supply remains inadequate, averaging only 4,200MW against a national demand ranging from 8,250MW to 51,000MW. Grid reliability is also weak, with 557 partial or total collapses recorded between 1999 and 2024.

A year after the unbundling and privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) in 2013, the National Council on Power (NACOP) was inaugurated as the highest decision-making body in the power sector. NACOP is also empowered by Section 229 of the Electricity Act 2023. The 6th National Council on Power (NACOP) was held on 26–29 May 2025, in Maiduguri City, Borno State.

The theme was “Consolidating Reforms for a Sustainable Energy Future in Nigeria”. The Council brought together 415 participants from federal and state power sector Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), generation companies, the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Nigerian Independent System Operator, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company (NBET), distribution companies, private power companies, development partners, and power sector civil society organizations.

At the gathering, many power sector issues were discussed, across generation, transmission, distribution, system operation and off-grid focus areas; at last-mile, on-grid and regional power pool levels; across state and federal governance levels; and across topics related to policy, regulatory, tariff, finance, feedstock, security and governance.

6th NACOP Panel Topics:

• Strengthening Subnational Collaboration.
• Pathways to Energy Transition and Access.
• Bridging Capacity and Gender Gaps in the Power Sector.
• Maintaining Liquidity for the Sustainability of the Power Generation Companies.
• Improving Grid Coordination and Operational Efficiency in Nigeria.
• Strengthening Distribution Companies (DISCOS) Performance.
• Safeguarding Power Infrastructure in High-Risk Areas.

Clean Technology Hub presented unpublished data on the extent to which state governments are getting involved in the power sector through the enactment of electricity legislation, budgetary allocations to energy MDAs between 2023 and 2025, and comparing among states and against the federal government (see figures below).

Figure 1: Some graphs presented by Clean Technology Hub at the 6th National Council on Power (NACOP)

This article summarizes some of the issues raised and challenges identified concerning power sector reform and state government participation.

Summary of Some Issues Raised

There were some interesting numbers circulating among the heads of MDAs, parastals, Gencos and DisCos with regard to the challenges of stabilizing Nigeria’s power sector.

Renewable Energy Expansion

Beyond net metering and DisCos slating communities for mini-grid developers to electrify, Professor Yemi Oke, a Legal Consultant and Energy Law Advisor, argued for a last-mile electrification strategy that treats decentralized renewable energy (DRE) technologies, such as mini-grids and mesh-grids, as stimulators of productive use of energy (PURE), which then attracts large-scale power suppliers since the commercial viability of grid extension and larger independent power projects (IPPs) improves as a result. Nonetheless, there were calls for large-scale renewable energy to be deployed. Dr Owolabi Sunday, Director of Renewable and Rural Power Access (RRD), Federal Ministry of Power, highlighted GIZ’s ongoing support for Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) studies and resource mapping and assessment for Kano, Sokoto and Plateau states.

State Governments Ready for Business

Chijioke M. Okonkwo, the Chairman/CEO of the Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) reported that, under the status quo, Enugu state was supplied only 70MW from the national grid, whereas residents self-generated 500MW. In addition, 36% of residents (over 1.5 million people) lived without access to electricity in the state. He argued that last-mile communities not only have the ability but the willingness to pay, even for solar mini-grids with tariffs of N250-N290/kWh. Mr Chijioke further implied that Enugu is prepared to provide more tariff regulations that are more attractive to investors, DisCos and GenCos than Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) tariffs.

Other state commissioners, such as those of Borno, Katsina and Kano, highlighted their power sector activities and their readiness for investors and development partners. Dr Hafiz Ahmed, Special Adviser, Power and Energy to the Governor of Katsina State, for example, revealed that, after about 20 years of attempted completion, the Katsina wind farm has been concessioned to the Katsina State Government and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Aliyu M.L. Buba, the Borno State Commissioner of Transport and Energy, also reported that N8 billion has been spent by the Borno State Government in the past three years to rehabilitate power infrastructure.

A recurring theme was that states lack adequate technical and financial capacity and therefore plead for FG support and development partner funding, and technical assistance. Some state electricity regulatory commissions lack a sufficient staff size, while some may not be independent enough to implement politically sensitive reforms. Indeed, the REA MD/CEO, Abba Aliyu, noted that the REA’s index which scores states on their readiness for electricity market governance (based on financing ability, availability of data, and three other factors), indicates that most states rank sub-optimally. Consequently, Dr Alex Akolo, Technical Advisor, Sustainable Energy Access at GIZ, revealed that GIZ was already or working on supporting states such as Cross River, Enugu, Kano, Ogun and Plateau through technical assistance.

Opinions on FG’s Intended Ban on Solar Panel Importation

Abba Aliyu, insisted that the importation of solar panels should be banned. He gave several persuasive reasons for this. The first is that significant progress has been made in developing local solar panel manufacturing capacity, with Nigeria having 600MW of PV manufacturing capacity today.

Since the international funders of solar electrification programs often require that the components used in such programs be at the Bloomberg Tier 1 solar panel ranking, local producers struggle to compete. Moreover, Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies may not adequately patronise locally produced solar panels. In line with the Presidency’s Nigeria First policy, the solution, then, is to ban the importation of foreign panels and scale up support for local producers to increase production quantity and quality.

Debts Everywhere

The power sector is a mess financially. Electricity end users owed N497 billion in unpaid electricity bills to DisCos in 2024. N450 billion is owed to TCN by DisCos. N280 billion is owed to TCN by the Federal Government for subsidies. In 2024, NBET owed GenCos N4 trillion (and increasing by N762 billion between January and April 2025, as Dr Joy Ogaji, MD/CEO of the Association of Power Generation Companies, pointed out), with N1.7 trillion of that being gas debt owed to gas companies (GasCos). More liquidity needs to flow into the sector through metering, addressing energy theft, making tariffs more cost-reflective, and addressing the issue of ‘ba shiga’ (Hausa for ‘no entry’) locations, which disallow DisCo technicians from entry to disconnect power due to non-payment of electricity bills. In addition, a solution is needed for gas, which is priced in dollars and therefore exposes GenCos to currency risk.

Similarly, as Professor Yemi Oke maintained, DisCos cannot rely on expensive and short-term domestic commercial bank credit. Dr Joy Ogaji further revealed that GenCos face difficulty in servicing their debt and equity in procuring generation assets, and suffer from poor credit ratings that hamper their ability to obtain loans, procure essential parts and invest in expanding capacity. Prof Yemi Oke recommended the creation of the power sector equivalent of the banking sector’s Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

Transmission Planning and Distribution Coordination

According to the MD/CEO of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), there is a lack of coordination with DisCos for transmission planning by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). This, he argued, is despite the fact that DisCos have knowledge of where effective demand exists (and not merely demand for household lighting and device charging). For example, AEDC would like to supply power to Lugbe and Idu in Abuja, where industrial activity and housing complexes are rapidly expanding, but due to low transmission capacity to those areas, load may be rejected from TCN and GenCos. In other words, although Abuja may need more power overall, specific places need more power than others, and transmission infrastructure constraints in those specific places limit power supply.

In terms of transmission network expansion across borders, the MD of TCN and Chairman of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), Engr Abdulaziz Sule, further argued that some of the reasons why Nigeria’s section of the WAPP transmission infrastructure has not been completed is that counter-funding from the FG does not come when due, and the integration of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system (SCADA) is incomplete.

Transmission Losses from Vandalization

Olatunde Daniel Tijani, CEO of Leo Technology Limited, reported that a 2024 report revealed that TCN spent almost N30 billion repairing 266 electricity towers damaged by vandals. He argued that more money is spent maintaining existing networks than building new ones. Similarly, the MD/CEO of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC), Abdulrahaman Isa, stated that funds that should be used for expansion and maintenance of distribution networks are rerouted to replace vandalized equipment. He revealed that since 2022, over 1,000 distribution transformers have been vandalized annually on average. Sometimes, entire tension and suspension towers are dismantled and carted away. The Executive Director of Transmission Service Provider (TSP), TCN, Engr Oluwagbenga Emmanuel Ajiboye, noted that while the vandalized cables often cost hundreds of thousands of naira, vandals sell them at comparatively paltry prices.

The ACG in charge of power at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Sanusi Bello, highlighted that the North East, North West, South South and parts of the North Central zones are high-risk zones for power infrastructure vandalism. Security agencies are underfunded and understaffed, and cannot be expected to be placed to safeguard transmission lines in uninhabited, remote and low-density populated areas. Even when vandals are caught, Abdulrahaman Isa argued that laws are not punitive enough to deter vandalism. Moreover, it is often costly for TCN and DisCos to be involved in the prosecution of alleged vandals. The TCN is asked to pay for an alleged vandal’s upkeep in jail, feeding and medical attention (if they suffer injury or illness), while in custody and awaiting prosecution. Key recommendations included:

• Establishing a Critical Infrastructure Protection Trust Fund.
• Establishing a dedicated court (one per state) to prosecute energy theft and vandalism.
• TCN and DisCos should work more closely with state governments (who have stronger links with village heads and community leaders) and community groups to reduce the incidence of vandalism through community engagement.

Conclusion

The 6th NACOP is the first to hold since the enactment of the Electricity Act 2023. It is clear from the discussions, memos, and recommendations that the decentralization of electricity governance has only just begun. There are a lot of moving parts in the Nigerian power sector at the moment, and most state governments need to build the capacity of their energy bureaucracies and rapidly develop their fiscal capacity before they are able to exploit their full powers under the Electricity Act 2023 to advance their electricity markets.

Clean Technology Hub (CTH) will continue to support the reform process in several ways. We have initiated a technical brief series focused on analyzing state action towards electricity market governance, including tracking the states that have enacted electricity laws, tracking state budgetary allocations to their energy MDAs (forthcoming), and so on. In addition, we are developing our own State Electricity Market Readiness Index (forthcoming) to identify the states that require the most technical and financial assistance for capacity building. Finally, CTH will be providing advisory services and program implementation support to state electrification agencies; electricity regulatory commissions, boards and bureaus; and ministries of energy.