{"id":169989,"date":"2025-07-17T17:44:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T16:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act"},"modified":"2025-07-17T19:00:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T18:00:30","slug":"energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act","title":{"rendered":"Energy Commissioners Oppose Senate Amendment to Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in Nigeria, FOCPEN, has strongly kicked against the Senate-proposed Electricity Act Amendment Bill 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The forum spoke through a statement jointly signed by Eka Williams and Omale Omale, chairman and secretary, and made available to newsmen in Makurdi, Benue State.<\/p>\n<p>Williams, who is the Commissioner of Power and Renewable Energy in Cross River State, and his counterpart in Benue, Omale, expressed surprise and concern over the ongoing deliberation in the Nigerian Senate on the bill.<\/p>\n<p>The group expressed dismay that the Senate was deliberating to amend the landmark law enacted barely two years ago, and over 16 states have already adopted it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis unexpected legislative move comes barely two years after the landmark Electricity Act 2023 was signed into law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring this period, many states have begun to establish and operationalise their electricity markets under the new decentralised framework.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMore than 16 states have passed their electricity laws since the enactment of the Electricity Act in 2023 and signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFOCPEN notes with dismay the absence of any prior consultations with state governments or their relevant commissioners and state electricity regulatory bodies during the drafting and presentation of this crucial amendment bill on the floor of the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis oversight is particularly concerning given the significant strides made in decentralising Nigeria\u2019s electricity sector,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>According to them, the Electricity Act 2023 stands as a signature achievement of President Bola Tinubu\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n<p>They said the enactment followed the groundbreaking fifth alteration to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which decisively removed all ambiguities regarding the ability of states to make laws and regulate electricity markets within their territories.<\/p>\n<p>They further regretted that the sudden move by the Senate would completely destroy their early efforts in the power sector and bring the country further backward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is therefore surprising that within two years of its passage, the Electricity Act 2023 is now subjected to a sweeping amendment of key provisions of the Act, without any consultation whatsoever with state governments or their regulatory institutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis unilateral approach undermines the spirit of cooperative federalism and threatens to reverse the gains made in decentralising Nigeria\u2019s electricity sector,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n<p>FOCPEN firmly believes that this is not the opportune time for an amendment to the Electricity Act 2023, as the Act is still in its early implementation phase.<\/p>\n<p>It will be recalled that it took 18 years for the National Assembly to amend\/repeal the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) passed in 2005 under President Olusegun Obasanjo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in Nigeria, FOCPEN, has strongly kicked against the Senate-proposed Electricity Act Amendment Bill 2025. The forum spoke through a statement jointly signed by Eka Williams and Omale Omale, chairman and secretary, and made available to newsmen in Makurdi, Benue State. Williams, who is the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":169987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[18053,254,53],"class_list":["post-169989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-focpen","tag-nigeria","tag-senate"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Energy Commissioners Oppose Senate Amendment to Act - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in Nigeria, FOCPEN, has strongly kicked against the Senate-proposed Elect ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Energy Commissioners Oppose Senate Amendment to Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Forum of Commissioners of Power and Energy in Nigeria, FOCPEN, has strongly kicked against the Senate-proposed Elect ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T16:44:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-17T18:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1752762702.456379.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Energy Commissioners Oppose Senate Amendment to Act\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-17T16:44:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-17T18:00:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\"},\"wordCount\":440,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/07\/sm_1752762702.456379.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"FOCPEN\",\"Nigeria\",\"senate\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/energy-commissioners-oppose-senate-amendment-to-act\",\"name\":\"Energy Commissioners Oppose Senate Amendment to Act - 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