 The Electricity Act now consolidates all the legislation dealing with the electricity supply industry to provide an omnibus and ideal institutional framework to guide the post-privatization phase of the nitrogen electricity supply industry and encourage private sector investments. Now the primary aim of the bill as stated in its very first section is to create a comprehensive legal and institutional framework to guide the nitrogen electricity supply industry messy. Joining me right now to this course further is Wisdomchab Jumbo, a public affairs analyst. Many thanks for joining me on Business Insight and Lost TV Africa. Thank you, Justin. Nice to join you. First of all, let us just get your general overview concerning this new Electricity Act. Well, it's a fantastic act. It's a long time coming. We have been seeking for reforms for the power sector for the longest time since the power sector reform 2005. So I think this is a long time coming. It's a game changer for the power sector. And if you look around the space, you will see that players are really excited about it. It's about time we decentralize power, which is what we have been advocating for and this is what this act is doing. So I think generally it's a fantastic act and I look forward to its implementation. Alright, speaking of implementation, just how far do you think this legislation will go in closing the huge electricity supply gap in Nigeria being Africa's largest economy? I think first of all what the act is doing is that whole conversation we've always had that the great national upgrade cannot carry the country of 200 million people. So what this act is doing is it has decentralized power in the manner in which now states can generate, transmit and distribute power within their states. So in this act now we empower states to be able to legislate on what happens with the electricity markets in their own states. So I think that's a fantastic step and I will begin to do that. A state with these peculiarities. I mean, what could solve the power problems in Lagos for example, which is a mega city. It might be different from what's made in Nassarawa needs and the population or maybe a Kogi for example. So what the act is doing is the first step, the specializing power to the states, giving states the power the electricity back in it needs to legislate our own power as its defeat. Of course creating its own markets, which is really good. And lastly and most importantly, the act also provides provisions for other sources like renewable energy. And again, one thing we plan on for the longest of time is what we can give power to the grid if we generate enough for ourselves. And we give power to the grid. The act also covers that part. So I think with all of this in the mix, we are sure our way to solve the problem. Alright now, some people that I spoke with say there's a low set of broken monopoly and will address development and utilization of renewable energy sources. And they say it will also create an enabling environment to attract investments in that particular sector. Do you agree? What this new act has done, which is what I like is a page of the act was created for renewable energy and energy efficiency. I think that should be section 17 of the act talks about renewable energy and energy efficiency. I mean this act is mandated and there shall be the support of development and utilization of renewable energy sources. Now also, if you read down that particular section, it talks a lot about how that will be done, including investment. So we are going to see how this is going to work, especially as states are going to begin to legislate with gadgets from this act at the state level. Some rural areas, what they need to solve that problem might just be a mini-grid. How that mini-grid works together with distribution companies on ground and how they can be able to collaborate to achieve that is something we ought to look out for. What is that mix that is going to happen? How do we do that at the state level to solve those electrical issues? So yes, this act is going to drive a lot of investment into the power sector and most especially renewables. If you recall in the last act we had in the reform of 2005, there was really a mention of renewable energy at the time. So we have grown now and a lot has happened. So yes, it will drive the investment, that is sure, not just for renewables but the power sector entirely. And at least investors can see clearly that the country is prepared for the kind of investment that it needs. So hopefully the federal government will go this way to power the country. I think this acts as we told that. So which is good? Investors can put in their money now and they are sure that there will be progress with the following input. So yes, the investment is going to come in. Okay, specifically let's talk about the benefits that can be derivable from the renewable energy value chain because it is actually broad. Nigerians are beginning to appreciate them, solar power and all of that. But what other aspects we can get some benefits from with this new act? Okay, if I get a question clearly, what are some of the benefits? Yeah, you can get from the value chain specifically for renewable energy. Okay, first of all, when you already have a lot of emphasis on what renewable energy can do from this act, this is the first step of it. The second step is how will the all grid operators and the all grid operators collaborate in the off grid areas and the rural areas where I mean there are many areas we've never seen. See the power before. This act also clarifies some of those issues. We are also asked one of these acts that also mentions how Nigeria content development regulations will also apply in this regard to drive local content, especially around renewable energy, which is really good. And also this act also creates incentives, sort of driving incentives for renewable energy. If you go through the act, if you go down to that section I mentioned before, you will see a part of that section also mentions renewable energy incentives and standards. So this act is also setting standards for renewable energy operators we need to also comply with. And this section is also clarifying the sort of incentives that you get if you apply renewable energy. And most importantly again, if I may add that this goes now, how can we put in our next renewable energy, such as like solar, which is really fantastic. So I think we are still studying the act to look at it more broadly and pick up on a lot of the gains, but just a glance through it and see what has been done so far. There are a lot of positivity for the entire value chain in renewable energy space, especially with solar, which we already know has been implemented successfully in scale. So I want to see how renewable energy sources will come in. For example, waste or energy, how we will use that in the entire mix. I mean, even if I was still studying the act to be sure, what clarity it will give in this area. But at the glance like I mentioned before, this is a fantastic act put together. The Nigerian power problem, for me I see we are already on our way to solving that problem. How we will work with this state level is what we need to now begin to look at. Lagos, Edo and Kaduna are already related to this. Socialing Lagos already have their policy. Now they have to see how they begin to implement that. I want to see other states also take lead from there and begin to decentralise this. And like you know according to the act, until states begin to fund their electricity markets and have their own policy, then we continue to act in those spaces until the states can provide their own regulations. This is a fantastic act. I keep saying that over and over again, we are clearly on our way to solving the Nigerian power problem. I hope implementation will not be an issue. Alright, speaking about implementation will not be an issue. It's still business insight and plus TV Africa. We still have wisdom, trap, jumbo, public affairs analysts. We'll take a quick break and then we'll come back and we'll talk some more concerning how we can harness the issue of solar power generation and the whole lot more to expect when business insights returns to join us again. Alright, let me continue. Alright, welcome back. It's still business insight and plus TV Africa. Wisdom, many thanks for staying with me. Yeah. Alright, now in 2020 to the rural electrification agency officially heats and cross the one million connections milestone through the deployment of standalone solar home system for improved energy access across Nigeria. With this new development now, how do you see the country harnessing up solar power generally? Yeah, I'm the RIA, rural artificial agency. They've been doing fantastic work within this space, which is really good. They really must commend them. If you own this public space, you know that they are doing so much work. And of course, this electricity act we have now, they also contributed to it. And the entire chapter is also dedicated to them just to break down what really would happen with the RIA in this part, which is good. So when we're heading towards solar and what the RIA can do, there's still much work we need to do and awareness. And how solar works, we need to drive more. And I want to see our next year, we still be at the forefront of that. How do we contribute to greater awareness? How do we really contribute to foster leadership between operators in the all grid and all grid space for us to work together? I want to see a lot of collaborations and partnerships happen to see us implement what this act has said. So the single work for the RIA, I mean their solar and job project that they implemented not too long ago, that was a massive one. And they are also identifying universities across the country. So much work is being done with the RIA. And I want people to visit their website to read more about it. But on this act, for me, I really want to see how we foster a lot of collaboration and partnership within the sector. All right. The issue for me right now would be implementation. You have even said that so far it's just about three states in the federation that have actually joined in this new development as it were. My issue would be that of generation transmission and distribution knowing fully well how capital intensive power supply generally is worldwide. Do you really think the state government or some states might not be having challenges really getting the most of this? And secondly, would you suggest maybe a private public partnership sort of a situation? Of course, you can have a public private partnership in this regard. It would be one of the fantastic ways to go about it. And I'm glad we have a new government administration across the country, which is an opportunity for fresh ideas for people to think innovatively out of the box on how they can solve power problems for their different states. Yes, at the top of the mind there are some states you will see that can they be able to go on this on their own? But again, you have to be innovative. Half of the work has been done with this act already for you. You just have to use it to your work with your state assemblies to see how you can drive this. So different states, there will be peculiar issues to different states. But the state assemblies should be able to work in more to see how can we leverage the private public private partnership, private sector people and see how we can solve these things. In some of the states you just give government can they will support, provide the funding. I mean the companies are there to do the work. So just if I would say for people to work effectively at the state level, there needs to be a lot of innovative thinking. Not the way we used to think before. The one good thing this artist is doing or has done is the fact that you can even infuse solar as part of your generation. So if you can do it power with solar, how do you put that into your own grid at the state level? So there are a lot of innovative things that can happen at the state level. I want to see states because now we can hold federal government, federal government that they are created in the environment by also decentralising this to take charge. But of course a few states will need more on this. But generally we look forward to every states implementing this. Think out of the box. In business as usual. Think out of how for example states in the south-east or states in the south-south will be implemented. It will slightly be different from states up north. One of the biggest solar projects is in Kadoona that was inaugurated by former president Buhariya before he left. So obviously when there is more work to do with renewable energy and solar for example, a lot of things will happen differently. But we want to see how these innovations will go. Very innovative ideas in this space. I want to see them implemented. Alright, we look forward to seeing the wonderful things happening. Of course with the signing of the new electricity act. We must a very big thank you to you. My guest has been wisdom chap Jumbo, public affairs analyst. My thanks for your useful insight on the show for today. We do appreciate them. Thank you Justin, thank you. My pleasure. And that's the size of the show for today. I will leave you with this feature or the future of the event and industry in Nigeria. I am Justin Akadone. Many thanks for watching. Bye for now. This one is nice. You look nice in this one. So that was something that events managers were having to do. The one-plane business is highly profitable and can be started with no or relatively low capital. It is however pertinent denotes that it is a network in oriented activity. With the progressive comeback from the pandemic, stakeholders have converged on the event experience Africa to share and connect with other professionals to better position themselves to hear the ground running in 2023. The other hand is also like understanding the customers. Led by Nigeria's foremost event planner Foucair Bochana Obrute, participants were intensively involved in an informative and unusual experience. They were engaged on drivers for sustainable business growth, curated sessions, emerging innovations and trends in the industry. They need a change of mindset and for me reset is either moving backwards, turning around, moving forward, passing and rethinking. You know, you can either do a hard reset where everything changes or you just do, you reset your mind, you reset your business, reset your life. I would say melting point where everybody can come together to learn, to relearn and then to just get education to network. And I saw that there was really nothing for Africa. You know, I go for conferences internationally all over the world. I've spoken, I've attended over the years and I know that we can be very expensive. First of all, getting on the plane, buying your tickets, getting the hotel, paying for the conference and they're very, very expensive. But I just thought, how can we make it nearer for people? People who curate experiences across Africa are the event organizers, event planners, the vendors and people in the value chain. See how powerful it is to actually put all of these people in one room. It's such an amazing thing. So if I'm to describe it, SEXA is unifying Africa and figuring out great ways to make this industry in Africa globally competitive. Right now, the world is actually, you know, the entire touchlight is on Africa right now. Like I said, a lot of times people don't see the fail hole. It's just, it's just a big actual day, just a big follow, just a big style. But truth be told, it's not true. What we do is basically curating a moment, a fashion moment for you. That's what your style is for us. So as much as it's pretty difficult to convince, sometimes your resume and what you've done and how you've been able to put your previous, your previous brights or previous groups together just sort of makes it easier. But a lot of times it's convincing that... SEXA 2023 was also targeted at corporate stakeholders, such as brand and corporate communication activation managers, including experiential marketing companies.