Bayelsa State Governor Douye Diri, has said there is no excuse for the state not to have 24 hours light as he signed the state first electricity bill into law.
This followed the decentralisation of electricity in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which removed it from exclusive list to the concurrent list where the states now have the authority to generate, distribute and commercialised electricity
The oil and gas producing region is now at liberty to become power generating state.
Speaking at the signing of the bill, Diri said, “Now the oil is going but gas is still there and we have it in abundance in Bayelsa State, so, we have no excuse not to have 24 hours light.
The Governor charged the Managing Director of the Bayelsa Electricity Management, Olice Kemenanabo to double his efforts to ensure their are firms who will not only generate, but also distribute and commercialised.
“For Engineer Olice, who is our MD, you are now under pressure from today to ensure that we have outfits that will not only generate, that will also distribute and commercialised,” Diri said.
The Governor who described the event as historic, charged the management to ensure that there are no delays in the issuance of licenced to the interested investor in the sector.
“No investors will regret ever investing in power in Bayelsa. It means businesses will be attracted,” Diri added.
In his remark, Olice Kemenanabo said, “What we need to do is to ensure that we work with figure that will be affordable by every sector including domestic, commercial and industrial in such a way that people will be attracted for investments in this place.”
The state had in August 2023 invited the foreign partners to see how they could convert the gas to power station so that people can tap from the available resources.
President Bola Tinubu has assented to the electricity bill, which authorizes states, companies and individuals to generate, transmit and distribute electricity.
The new electricity law repeals the Electric Power Sector Reform Act which was signed by President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005.
The EPSRA (2005) provided the legal, regulatory and governance frameworks underpinning the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
Federal Government liberalisation policy of electricity provision
which removed it from exclusive list to the concurrent list where the states now have the authority to generate, distribute and commercialised electricity
