Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has said that his administration is committed to ensuring that Lagos becomes a model for electricity market transformation in Africa.
The governor stated this at the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange Breakfast Meeting on the importance of the energy bill to the capital market with the theme, “Building a Competitive Electricity Marketplace: Strategies to Attract Investments and Boost Confidence in the Lagos Electricity Market Using the Capital Market,” held in Lagos.
Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, noted that the government is deliberately implementing policies that will encourage private sector participation, improve regulatory oversight and build investor confidence in the Lagos electricity market.
“As Nigeria’s economic nerve center, Lagos understands the critical importance of a reliable, competitive, and investor-friendly electricity market. Therefore, the state government remains committed to creating an enabling environment that encourages investments in power infrastructure and renewable energy solutions,” he said.
While underscoring the vital role the capital market plays in unlocking new investment channels for the electricity sector, the governor stressed the needs to provide a structured platform that enables both local and international investors to finance large-scale energy projects, through instruments such as energy bonds, power purchase agreements and electricity derivatives.
He urged stakeholders, financial institutions, investors, and policymakers to work collaboratively in leveraging the capital market for energy sector growth.
“Together, we can build a competitive, reliable, and sustainable electricity marketplace that serves the needs of our people and businesses”, said the governor, adding that with the Lagos State Electricity Law in place, decisive steps to decentralize power generation, enabled private sector participation, and foster a more dynamic and efficient energy marketplace and need to bring in new metres to eliminate all estimated bills within the state, are already put in place,” he said.
Earlier, Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resource, Mr Biodun Ogunleye disclosed that the Clean Lagos Electricity Market (CLEM) aims to eliminate the culture of blackouts across Lagos State by taking systemic steps to execute the state Electricity Bill which would involve; positioning strong market institutions, deploying appropriate tools, perfecting value chain delivery capacity and attracting new investments platforms sustainable turnaround of the situation with partners across the energy value chain.
