Electricity: Lagos ‘ll soon overcome blackout – Commissioner

Lagos State Electricity Bill 2024, which is before the state House of Assembly, will end blackouts in the state.

The state Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Mr Biodun Ogunlewe, gave the assurance at a one-day public hearing on the bill at the assembly complex, on Wednesday.

It was reported that the Bill for a Law to Repeal the Lagos State Power Sector Reform Law 2018 is to provide for creation and administration of Lagos electricity market and related matters.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari, on March 17, 2023, signed into law, a constitutional amendment that allowed states in the country to generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid.

The nation experienced blackout as the national grid collapsed on Saturday for the fourth time in 2024.

Ogunlewe said that the bill, if passed into law, would allow the state government to generate, transmit and distribute electricity directly to end users.

The commissioner said that all electricity users in the state would have access to quality electricity within two years after signing the bill into law.

“We believe that the passage is the beginning of the revolution that Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has promised the people of the state.

“We are going to witness where the state grid will operate in such a way that we are not encountering the challenges that come from a largely single source.

“The first thing the people of Lagos should expect from this bill is provisions in respect of other operators coming into the market and in respect of environmental friendliness.

“At present, there are issues not allowing the operators to do their businesses but they have been resolved in this bill.

“I believe this bill will make the state the global centre of excellence where everybody is carried along,” he said.

Ogunlewe said that the state government had ensured that all its class A roads were lighted while most of the class B roads were also lighted.
He added that about 20,000 street lighting poles were functional at present.

The commissioner said, in respect to rural areas of the state, the government would have interventions via off-grid and macro-grid platforms.

“Talking about the alternative source of energy, at the centre of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu strategy, is an immediate sign-off of nothing less than 1,000 megawatts of non-renewable energy capacity coming in the market.

“We are going to see a power sector that has a better energy meet.

“It is not going to be fossil fuel alone, we are going to see a great departure from what we have in the past where there would just be an actual collapse,” he said.

The commissioner said that the state was looking forward to the third reading of the bill when the committee would have considered comments and suggestions from stakeholders.