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By Lizzy Chirkpi
President Bola Tinubu has signed the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill 2025 into law, formally removing electricity from the Exclusive Legislative List and transferring key powers over electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and regulation to state governments.
The new law fundamentally restructures the country’s power sector by decentralising control that was previously held by the federal government. Under the amended Act, states are now empowered to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity within their territories, establish state electricity markets and regulators, and license private investors to operate power plants and mini-grids without federal approval.
The policy shift is expected to boost competition, attract private investment, and accelerate electrification particularly in rural, peri-urban, and underserved urban communities that have long suffered unreliable power supply.
“This law marks a new era in Nigeria’s energy sector,” President Tinubu said while assenting to the bill. “States now have the constitutional authority to provide stable and efficient electricity to their residents, fostering industrialisation and job creation.”
The reform is expected to improve power supply and support faster industrial growth, especially in states willing to move quickly beyond politics to implement viable electricity markets and infrastructure. However, the success of the new framework will depend largely on the capacity, political will, and regulatory readiness of individual state governments to translate the law into tangible results.