Get Guardian on GoogleStakeholders have weighed in on the potency of energy theft, poor megawatts generation, and security challenges, among others, as major setbacks to investment in the power sector.
They spoke during the maiden Anambra State Electricity Market Roundtable by the Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC) held in Awka, the State capital, yesterday.
Declaring the event open, the State Governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, noted that the State needs about 1000 megawatts, but currently gets about 120 megawatts, tasking regulators and participants to foster a free market that breaks power monopolies and enhances consumer options and service reliability.
Soludo, in his Keynote Address, said the State is ready for investors, stressing, “without electricity, there will be no manufacturing…”. …without energy… We are here to do business. Anambra is ready for business.”
He listed investment opportunities available at the Mixed Industrial City with an aerotropolis, calling on investors to explore many available investment opportunities.
According to him, there is “lamentation and opportunity … Let’s get the plan… a clear roadmap, actionable, verifiable roadmap. Anambra is a land of opportunities. This is a summit for closing deals. Let’s get it done,” Governor Soludo, while declaring the roundtable open, urged energy investors to tap into the state’s newly unbundled power market.
In his welcome address, the Chairman of Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC), Professor Frank Okafor, disclosed that the body operates under the Anambra State Electricity Law, 2025 (which commenced operations in October 2025). He said ASERC is tasked with managing state-level power generation, transmission, distribution, and tariff setting.
Okafor listed four foundational regulatory instruments signed to govern and protect the sector, viz: Business Rules, Customer Protection Regulation, Licensing Regulation, and Investment Regulation
He also pointed out that there is a substantial power deficit in Anambra and that it is what the roundtable intends to address. “We are here to think together, and come up with a solution that will help sort the challenge,” Professor Okafor said.
In a paper presentation, the Managing Director of South-East Development Commission (SEDC), Mark Okoye hailed the Bola Tinubu administration for the establishment of the SEDC) that he noted is bringing visible development across sectors to the zone in the last three years more than what was witnessed in the last ten years.
Okoye said that SEDC partners with state governments to give facelift to infrastructure and impact meaningfully on the lives of the citizens, stressing that the road infrastructure in the South-East zone undertaken by the federal government traverses industrial clusters which are capable of unlocking development, and ensuring prosperity and improved livelihoods of the people in the zone.
Also speaking, the Chairman of EEDC, Sir Emeka Offor pledged to support Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo in achieving its electricity sector target of 1,000 megawatts in the state.
Offor who spoke through MD/CEO of EEDC, Engr. Vincent Ekwekwu noted that iEEDC’s subsidiary, FirstPower Electricity Distribution Company Limited, handles power distribution in Anambra State , pledging full support to the vision of the governor Soludo-led administration.
In his remarks, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstPower Electricity Distribution Company Limited, Engr. Okechukwu Okafor identified energy theft as the greatest threat to investment in the power sector in Nigeria and Anambra State in particular.
Okafor said government must enact and enforce laws that will criminalize energy theft with deterrent consequences as major step to arrest the imminent threat, just as he lamented indebtedness of consumers as well as encroachment of electricity right of way in various cities in the state to dangerous and life-threatening activities conducted under high voltage networks in most places across the state. .
According to him: “Earlier, a highly respected telecommunication expert and chairman of the event, Engr. Engr. Ernest Ndukwe. described Governor Soludo as someone who “has the capacity to make the changes that we are gathered to see to.”
Engr. Ndukwe also expressed interest in investing in the electricity reforms in Anambra State. “I want to be a player in the electricity revolution that is coming up in Anambra State”, he said, urging the government to also “own stakes in companies coming to invest in power in Anambra State.
The highpoint of the event is the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with its investment partners including Capstone Energies Limited for Distributed Embedded supply of 50 MW And North South Power Company Ltd for Distributed Embedded supply of 17 MW commited to improving electricity reliability across the State.
The event was well attended by officials of the Government of Anambra State, stakeholders in the power sector across Nigeria, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association; Afam Osigwe, SAN, Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC); Dr. Musiliu Oseni, among many others.
