Decentralization of Electricity Generation and Distribution in Nigeria : Revisiting the Legal and Policy Reforms

The Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) is without doubt a large utility industry with capacity for multiplier and value chain expansion. The NESI composed of generation, transmission, distribution and marketing sectors is however bedeviled by a wide range of challenges including lack of inadequate investment in infrastructure, lack of political will and investment decisions making, massive corruption and incompetence, failure to embrace new technologies, undue and regular government interference in the business of the sectors, among others. Efforts have been made by successive governments to revamp the industry to no avail. A number of efforts have also been put in place by the EPSRA and the NERC towards expanding the capacity of the NESI. The authors argued that much more need to be done, positing that it will require the active involvement of the various stakeholders including the Federal Government, Ministry of Power, industry Regulators, the players, including the Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Marketing Companies, original equipment manufacturers and technology producers, engineering, procurement and construction (E & P) and the general public. According to the authors, the way out of the quagmire is the complete decentralization of the Nigerian electricity supply industry to manageable sizes for optimal utilization of capacities and competencies to bring the electricity supply industry out of the woods