T he Fifth Alteration (No.17) altered the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to allow States to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters. Before the latest amendment, it might be argued that electricity was in the Concurrent Legislative List, as Paragraph 14, Part II, Second Schedule of the Constitution provided as follows: “14.
A House of Assembly may make laws for the State with respect to – (a) electricity and the establishment in that State of electric power stations; (b) the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to areas not covered by a national grid system within that State; and (c) the establishment within that State of any authority for the promotion and management of electric power stations established by the State.” However, in practice, the federating states were rendered horse de combat by the fact that any power generated would have to be fed first into the national grid. Other ancillary laws made it practically impossible for States and the private sector to be major players in the all-important power sector of the economy.
Unfortunately, from the military interregnums up to the present time, the Federal Government has performed abysmally in terms of power generation, transmission and distribution. It is a sad commentary that a nation of about 200 million is served by a miserly 4,000 Megawatts of electricity. We recall that on Sunday, July 5, 2010, at .
