The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Dr. Abba Aliyu, has cautioned that the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to set up the National Authority for Renewable Energy, NARE, constitutes severe dangers to Nigeria’s electricity market.
In an article on Monday made obtainable to Daily Trust, Aliyu mentioned the Bill presently earlier than the National Assembly would create regulatory confusion and scare buyers away from the sector.
According to him, the bill which additionally seeks to switch renewable-energy capabilities from NERC, REA and the Rural Electrification Fund to a brand new authority, and allocate 40 p.c of the Rural Electrification Fund to it, will trigger fragmentation to a market with a viable market.
The proposed structure dangers trying to clear up a coordination downside by creating one other coordination downside, he additionally mentioned, including that: “Every additional regulatory interface introduces another approval, another interpretation, another potential disagreement and another risk that must eventually be priced into the cost of capital.”
Sixteen states, he mentioned, have already obtained regulatory oversight from NERC beneath the Electricity Act 2023, stressing that bringing one other federal regulator organised round know-how will create a brand new axis of jurisdiction.
He mentioned: “We could end up with NERC, State commissions, NARE, NEMSA and other institutions interacting with different aspects of the same project. That is not simplification. It is fragmentation.”
He hinted that Nigeria’s distributed-energy market is starting to present outcomes, with over 1,000 mini-grids beneath growth and $750 million DARES programme focusing on 17.5 million Nigerians, 1,225 mini-grids and 465MW.
He introduced that REA has secured N350 billion potential home financing commitments – FCMB N100bn, Lotus Bank N100bn, Alpha Morgan N50bn and Stanbic IBTC N100bn.
Aliyu maintained that buyers want predictable guidelines for 15 to 20-year investments, warning that ambiguity will increase price of capital and e tariffs.
He added that diverting the Rural Electrification Fund to fund a brand new establishment confuses instrument with goal, stressing that each naira needs to be judged by what number of Nigerians it connects.
The National Assembly, he suggested, ought to conduct regulatory-impact evaluation and get suggestions from states, buyers and growth companions earlier than taking a call.
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