Subsidy Savings: Governors and Nigeria’s Power Problems (6)

SOStainabilityWeekly

Edited by Oke Epia, E-mail: sostainability01@gmail.com  | WhatsApp: +234 8034000706

Trends and Threads

This is the conclusion of the series on governors and subsidy savings. Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Plateau, katsina, and Lagos States share the spotlight with a mixture of satisfactory and unsatisfactory performances.

This was the verdict last week when Enugu, Rivers, Adamawa, Nassarawa, Sokoto, and Ondo states were spotlighted. Enugu and Lagos, for instance, stand out as pioneers and leaders. Others in this category include Nassarawa, Abia, Ekiti and Oyo. There are unsatisfactory performances from states like Rivers, Gombe, Borno, and Yobe.

As stated in previous editions, this page acknowledges that there are several other areas of governance and service delivery that savings from the removal of petrol subsidies can be deployed, the focus on the power sector is part of ongoing efforts to assess the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 7 at the subnational level. Access to and affordability of electricity has remained a perennial challenge in Nigeria and the deregulation of the power sector via a constitutional amendment in 2023 levels the ground for government at the national and state levels to generate, transmit and distribute electricity to citizens.

We strongly believe that the Judicious use of public resources can help solve Nigeria’s power problems and unlock productivity for industries, small and medium-scale businesses, households, and individuals who require regular, affordable, and cleaner supply of electricity to power production.

This series used key metrics including legal framework, regulatory readiness, and evidence of project pipelines to measure performance in the power sector. The graphical illustrations provide summary answers to the same questions for the six states under review this week as has been the case with the five previous editions.

This light-touch assessment precedes a more detailed reporting and documentation of power access, affordability, and clean energy in the states by SOStainability’s SDG7 industry report and success stories.