Section 5 Electricity Act 2023

Section 5 of the Electricity Act 2023 is about Supervisory powers of the Minister and functions of the Ministry responsible for power. It is under Part II (National Integrated Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan) of the Act.

(1) The Minister shall —

(a) be responsible for the determination, formulation and monitoring of Government policy for the Nigerian electricity supply industry and perform the following functions including other functions assigned to him
under this Act and other Acts of the National Assembly;

(b) issue general policy directions to the Commission on matters concerning electricity, including direction on overall system planning and coordination, which the Commission shall take into consideration in performing its functions under section 34 of this Act, provided that such directions are not in conflict with this Act or the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

(c) advise the Federal Government on all matters pertaining to the Nigerian electric power sector;
(d) promote the development of local content in the Nigerian electricity supply industry;

(e) in consultation with the Ministry responsible for women affairs and other relevant ministries, departments and agencies as the Minister may determine, promote gender mainstreaming in the design and implementation of electricity projects and programmes;
(f) issue policy directives on cross border electricity trading in conjunction with the Commission and other relevant ministries, departments and agencies to ensure energy security anc energy self-sufficiency; and

(g) do all such other things as are incidental to and necessary for the performance of the functions of the Minister under this Act.

(2) The Ministry responsible for power shall be responsible for initiating and coordinating broad sectoral policies and implementation frameworks for overall development of the electric power sector in Nigeria and perform the following specific functions —
(a) carry out public private partnership arrangement under the appropriate statutory framework;

(b) coordinating activities of power sector including engagement with various States and Local Governments regarding proposed government subsidy and their respective roles in the implementation of extant National Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan;

(c) handling policy matters relating to research and development in the power sector including regular detailed research on national load demand with a view to projecting future demands for the country over a given time frame; (d) participating in bilateral and multilateral relations affecting the power sector;
(e) advising the Minister on all matters pertaining to conventional and renewable energy development and utilisation:

(f) recommending to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry responsible for such exemption from customs levies and other duties on equipment and machinery necessary for the development, production and utilisation of conventional and renewable energy sources in the NESI as the Ministry may consider appropriate;

(g) recommending te the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry responsible for finance, such financial incentives necessary for the development, production and utilisation of conventional and renewable energy source;
(h) in conjunction with relevant ministries, departments and agencies, undertaking feasibility studies and maintain data with a view to availing the same to developers of conventional and renewable energy resources in the NESI:

(i) undertaking, in conjunction with the Commission, the Energy Commission of Nigeria and other relevant institutions, research, development and dissemination of appropriate conventional and renewable energy technologies;
(j) promoting, in conjunction with the Ministry responsible for the environment, the use of biomass for electricity generation,
(k) promoting, in conjunction with the Ministry responsible for physical planning, planning activities relating to energy resource areas such as dams, solar and vind farms, municigal waste dumpsites, agricultural and animal waste, ocean energy, wood plantations for production of bio energy feedstock:

(l) promoting, in collaboration with other relevant agencies, the development of appropriate local capacity for the manufacture, installation, maintenance and operation of renewable technologies such as bio digesters, solar systems, turbines and other conventional and renewable energy technologies;

(m) in collaboration with the Ministries responsible for environment, and water resources to harness opportunities offered under clean development mechanism and other mechanisms including carbon credit trading, renewable energy certificates to promote the development and exploitation of conventional and renewable energy sources;
(n) generally promoting the utilisation of conventional and renewable energy sources for power generation; and

(o) facilitating the overall coordination of the activities of the parastatals under its supervision with a view to ensuring the efficacy of extant institutional arrangement in the electric power sector and seamless engagements with the Federal Government implementation organs and the other tiers of government in Nigeria.

(4) In discharging its functions under this Act or any other instrument, the Ministry shall be under the overall direction of the Minister and shall be guided by the provisions of the Constitution, extant policies and implementation plans as well as the provisions of this Act or any other Act of the National Assembly with direct or indirect bearing on the performance of its functions provided under this Act.