The Federal Government and Lagos State have established two committees to oversee efforts to improve electricity supply and achieve 24-hour power availability across the state.
The committees were announced on Monday during a ministerial retreat on the Clean Lagos Electricity Market held at Lagos House, Marina.
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said Lagos would serve as the starting point for a broader plan to improve electricity supply across major economic centres in the country.
He said the state was selected because it accounts for about 40 to 50 per cent of Nigeria’s electricity demand, making reliable power in Lagos important to economic activities and businesses.
Tegbe said the government had identified practical measures that could produce immediate improvements, while other interventions would require longer-term implementation.
One of the committees is a Joint Technical Working Committee made up of officials from the Transmission Company of Nigeria, Rural Electrification Agency, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Federal Ministry of Power, Lagos Independent System Operator and Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission.
The committee will be jointly led by the Permanent Secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and the Managing Director of the Lagos Independent System Operator.
A separate Steering Committee has also been established to monitor the implementation of the agreed measures. Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, will chair the committee, while Tegbe will serve as co-chairman.
The committees will examine technical, regulatory and operational challenges affecting electricity supply in Lagos and work towards solutions that can improve generation, transmission and distribution.
The Federal Government plans to use the experience from Lagos as a model for other priority economic corridors, including Abuja-Kaduna-Kano and Enugu-Port Harcourt.
The move comes as Lagos continues to develop a more decentralised electricity market under the Lagos State Electricity Law 2024, which provides for state-level regulation of electricity generation, distribution, supply, transmission, system operation and trading.
The state has also been working with private power companies to increase local electricity generation. In April, it signed power purchase agreements with Mainland Power Limited, Fenchurch Power Limited and Viathan Engineering to provide electricity for critical infrastructure and other consumers.
Speaking at the retreat, Sanwo-Olu said the discussions had helped identify measures that could deliver faster improvements to consumers.
He said the newly established Steering Committee would help ensure that decisions reached during the meeting were translated into action.
For the Federal Government, the immediate priority is to turn the plans into measurable improvements in electricity supply, with Lagos expected to provide the first test of the approach before it is extended to other parts of the country.
