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Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said that lawmakers are not in the Senate to make money but to make sacrifices for future generations.
Akpabio stated this on the floor of the Senate during debate on the general principles of the Bill for an Act to amend the Electricity Act, 2023.
The bill will address emerging issues in the Nigerian electric power sector, enhance policy and regulatory coordination, strengthen sectoral financing, protect critical electricity infrastructure, foster industrial relations in the sector, clarify transitional arrangements, redefine host community engagements by licensees operating in the Nigerian electricity supply industry; and for related matters, 2025 (SB. 862).
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The bill was sponsored by the Chairman of Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (APGA, Abia South).
In his remarks, Akpabio noted that without electricity, there will be no way for industrial growth in the country. He said that everyone is looking forward to a total overhaul of the electricity sector.
“People think we are here in the Senate to make money, not knowing that we are here to sacrifice for future generations,” he added at plenary on Tuesday.
When amended, passed and signed into law, it would help clarify ongoing transitional provisions for the transfer of intrastate electricity matters from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to state governments, especially matters having bearing on the operation of the national grid system and other overlapping issues.
The bill scaled second reading in the Senate, prompting Akpabio to refer it to the Committee on Power for further legislative action. The committee is to report back at plenary in six weeks.
Earlier in his lead debate on the general principles of the bill, Senator Abaribe who disclosed that the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, 2025 was read the first time on Wednesday 25 June 2025, said, “the primary objective of this Bill is to address critical issues that have emerged since the Implementation of the EA, 2023. Specifically, the Bill seeks to introduce provisions that will enhance policy and regulatory coordination between national and sub national governments to avoid legal disputes and inconsistencies; Strengthen sectoral financing in the face of crippling sector debt crisis:
“Criminalise critical electricity infrastructure vandalism in the face of the rising wave of recurrent sabotage by vandals; foster industrial relations in the sector by balancing labour rights in the context of essential services as recognized by domestic and International best labour practices and Instruments;
“Clarify ongoing transitional provisions for the transfer of intrastate electricity matters from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to State Governments especially matters having bearing on the operation of the national grid system and other overlapping issues;
“Clarify the framework for the operationalization of the Power Consumer Assistance Fund to address subsidies to vital social services and underprivileged consumers as a paradigm shift from the current subsidy arrangement that has left government with huge trillions of Naira in deficit of subsidy payments.
“Re-define and make provision for a sector-wide framework to guide host community engagements by licensees operating in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NEST) across the power value chain; remove inherent ambiguities in a few provisions of the Principal Act to allow for darity, elegance and smooth implementation; and fortify existing institutional and legal frameworks of the NESI etc.”
