NASS passes bill empowering states to generate electricity

State governments can now generate, transmit and distribute electricity for their residents as the national assembly has passed a constitutional reform bill that gives them legal autonomy to do so.

The legislation is entitled: “A Bill For An Act to alter the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to allow States generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid; and for related matters”.

The bill is one of the legal reforms to Nigeria’s 1999 constitution that both houses voted on Tuesday.

According to tweets by both chambers, the majority of lawmakers voted to alter the provisions of the 1999 Nigerian constitution “to allow states generate, transmit and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid”.

More than 200 lawmakers voted in support of the bill, while all seated members of the senate voted for the bill.

The bill will still pass through the states’ assemblies before it can be signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The new development is expected to end the federal government’s control and solve the issue of the country’s epileptic power supply to over 200 million population.