Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has renewed the state government’s push to end persistent blackouts and move towards 24-hour electricity supply, setting a target of about 3,500 megawatts (MW) of available power.
Sanwo-Olu made the commitment on Thursday at the Lagos State High-Level Strategic Power Town Hall held at Lagos House, Marina, where key stakeholders in the electricity sector met to examine the state’s power challenges and agree on practical solutions.
The governor said Lagos was ready to work with stakeholders across the electricity value chain to increase available power through coordinated improvements in generation, transmission, distribution and metering.
He said the state’s growing economy and huge electricity demand required a more reliable and sustainable power system capable of supporting homes, businesses and industries.
The meeting brought together regulators, power distribution companies, transmission operators, asset managers, investors and representatives of the Federal Government and Lagos State Government.
Sanwo-Olu called for stronger coordination, smart metering, improved data management, effective enforcement and revenue assurance, stressing that these measures were necessary to restore consumer confidence and attract fresh investment into the sector.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, represented by the Director of Distribution Services in the Federal Ministry of Power, Engr. Baba Mustapha, said Lagos requires more than 6,000MW to meet its electricity needs but currently receives far less from the national grid.
He stressed that additional generation alone would not solve the problem without adequate transmission and distribution infrastructure, identifying gas supply, generation capacity, transmission constraints, distribution bottlenecks and metering as key areas requiring urgent attention.
The Special Adviser to the President on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Power Sector Reset and Restoration, Dr Rilwan Lanre Babalola, said the challenge facing Lagos and Nigeria was no longer simply about generating more electricity but about creating a functional and sustainable electricity market.
Babalola said Nigeria needed to move away from a system in which government continuously acts as buyer, guarantor and absorber of losses across the electricity value chain.
He said the proposed Clean Lagos Electricity Market (CLEM) could help transform Lagos’ huge electricity demand into a structured and investable market through demand aggregation, bilateral contracting, open access, payment assurance and transparent settlement.
According to him, stakeholders must be able to clearly determine where electricity demand exists, where power and gas will come from, whether the network can deliver the electricity, the appropriate tariff and how payments will move transparently between generators, network operators and gas suppliers.
He also highlighted the importance of decentralisation following constitutional amendments and the Electricity Act, which have created opportunities for states to establish and regulate their electricity markets.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Abiodun Ogunleye, said the town hall was convened to begin the process of ending what he described as the culture of blackout in Lagos.
Ogunleye said the state would develop clear action points and establish a baseline for measuring progress during a proposed six-month review.
On electricity tariffs, he stressed that improved supply must be matched by payment, insisting that consumers should not be required to pay for electricity they do not receive.
He said achieving the 3,500MW target would enable more feeders to operate and increase electricity supply to homes, businesses and industries that depend on reliable power for productive activities.
Ogunleye also disclosed that newly commissioned substations would strengthen the state’s power infrastructure, while the government would work with distribution companies to monitor selected feeders and measure improvements in electricity supply.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Temitope George, identified generation and transmission constraints, energy theft, vandalism and non-payment of electricity bills as major challenges affecting the sector.
George urged consumers to pay for electricity consumed, warning that widespread non-payment distorts the electricity market and ultimately undermines reliable supply.
She added that Lagos was exploring embedded power generation to complement electricity from the national grid and reduce the state’s dependence on the national system.
The town hall ended with stakeholders committing to translate the discussions into concrete action points, establish measurable baselines and periodically assess progress.
For millions of Lagos residents and businesses that rely on electricity for homes, jobs and daily economic activity, the state’s 3,500MW target now represents an effort to turn years of promises about better power supply into measurable results.
