June 2026

A major obstacle to industrialisation and sustainable economic development in sub-Saharan Africa has been acute electricity shortages that successive governments had tried to address in Nigeria. In spite of efforts to improve the power situation, the sector was still contending with many challenges ranging from monopoly, inefficient administration, and limited output, resulting in epileptic power supply across the country. This was a scenario that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu decided to tackle headlong when he came to power in May 2023. The president’s reform in the power sector, aimed at tackling electricity shortages, is driven by the Electricity Act 2023.