Lagos Opens Power Market: 14 Firms Licensed to Generate Electricity and End Estimated Billing - Initiative Worthy of Emulation by other States of the Federation

*Sample Scenario: Old Way vs New Way*

Before now, if you lived or ran a business in Lagos, your power mostly came from Ikeja Electric or Eko Disco through the national grid. When the grid failed, you sat in darkness or ran noisy, expensive generators.

With the new development, a factory in Ikorodu can now get dedicated power from a private firm right next door, and residents in Isolo can be fed from a local 9MW plant. Power is being produced and distributed closer to where people live and work, cutting out long grid failures and losses.

*Brief Summary*

On May 7, 2026, the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission (LASERC) issued 14 electricity licences and permits to private firms for off-grid generation, embedded generation, independent distribution, metering services, and interconnected mini-grids. 

The move is part of Lagos’ push to build a regulated, competitive, and consumer-centered electricity market under its intrastate electricity framework. 

LASERC presented the licences at its maiden stakeholder engagement in Lagos, saying it would enforce compliance, attract investment, and improve reliability.

*Key Highlights and Facts*

1. *Who got licences*: 

• Axxela Limited got approval for a 5.8MW off-grid project at Cadbury Nigeria Plc in Agidingbi. 
• Isolo Power Gen Limited was approved for a 9MW embedded generation plant on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, and Isolo Power Supply Limited got an independent distribution licence for the same area.

2. *Industrial coverage*: Daybreak Power Solutions Limited secured multiple approvals for Seven-Up Bottling Company in Oregun, Crown Flour Mill in Ikorodu, Nigerdock FZE on Snake Island, Nigerian Breweries in Iganmu, Nigerian Bottling Company in Ikeja, and Promasidor Nigeria Limited in Isolo.

3. *Metering and engineering*: 

• New Hampshire Capital Limited was approved as a meter asset provider. 
• GossLink Engineering Limited got licences for 330KV and below operations, plus 400V vendor and importation. 
• Enaro Energy Mini-Grid Limited was approved for interconnected mini-grids in Ishokan Phase 1 and Mercyland Phase 1, Ayobo-Ipaja.

4. *Market impact*: The licences introduce competition for Ikeja Electric and Eko Disco. LASERC also plans zonal offices in Ikorodu, Amuwo Odofin/Badagry, and Sangotedo/Epe to improve customer service, expected to be operational in Q3 2026. 

Lagos targets 97.5% electricity availability by 2030. About 40 more projects are awaiting approval. 

*Lagos Power Initiative, Worthy of Emulation by Other States of Nigerian Federation*

Lagos has set a bold example for Nigeria’s power sector by opening its electricity market to 14 licensed private firms for generation and metering. 

This move brings power closer to the people, cuts out estimated billing, and creates real competition for better service. It shows what’s possible when states take charge of their energy future under the new electricity framework.

Other states across the federation would do well to follow Lagos’ lead. Decentralizing power and empowering private players is the fastest path to reliable, affordable electricity for every Nigerian.

*Recommendations*

1. *For businesses*: Engage licensed mini-grid and embedded generators to secure stable power and reduce diesel costs. Early partnerships can lock in better tariffs.

2. *For consumers*: Use LASERC’s upcoming zonal offices to resolve complaints faster and verify that providers meet service standards.

3. *For investors*: Lagos’ regulatory clarity and large market make it attractive for decentralized power projects. Focus on industrial clusters and peri-urban areas with weak grid supply.

4. *For LASERC*: Maintain transparency in licensing, enforce service quality, and speed up approvals to avoid bottlenecks as demand grows.

*Conclusion*

Lagos is shifting from a centralized, grid-dependent model to a decentralized system where private firms generate and distribute power closer to users. 

The 14 licences mark a concrete step toward reliable, competitive electricity for homes and industries. If well regulated, this can cut outages, lower costs, and attract more investment into Nigeria’s largest economy. 

*BUA Becomes the 2nd Richest In Africa after Dangote*

 

*From Rice Importer’s Son to Africa’s No. 2: How Abdulsamad Rabiu’s Fortune Doubled in Months*

Imagine a market trader in Kano who started by importing rice and steel in 1988. Fast forward to May 2026, and that same man is now the second richest person in Africa, worth nearly $20 billion, watching his companies’ share prices climb daily on the Nigerian Exchange.That’s the story of Abdulsamad Rabiu.

*Brief Summary*

Abdulsamad Rabiu, founder and chairman of BUA Group, became Africa’s second-richest person in early May 2026, overtaking South Africa’s Johann Rupert. 

His net worth surged from about $10.4 billion at the start of 2026 to $18.6–$19.1 billion by May, driven by explosive gains in BUA Cement and BUA Foods. He now sits behind only Aliko Dangote on the continent.

*Key Highlights*

1. *Fastest wealth growth in Africa for 2026*: Rabiu added roughly $8.5–$8.9 billion year-to-date, the largest gain among African billionaires.

2. *Overtake happened in May 2026*: Bloomberg Billionaires Index placed his net worth at $19.1 billion on May 7, ahead of Johann Rupert’s $17.7 billion.

3. *Driven by listed companies*: BUA Cement shares surged over 134% year-to-date to ₦418, and BUA Foods posted a 14% rise in Q1 2026 profit after tax to ₦142.32 billion.

4. *Ownership stakes are massive*: Rabiu owns about 95.78% of BUA Cement and 92.64% of BUA Foods, making daily share price moves directly impact his fortune.

5. *Global ranking jump*: He moved from 5th richest in Africa in January to 2nd by May, and to 138th globally.

*Necessary Facts and Figures*

- *Net worth*: $18.6 billion to $19.1 billion as of May 2026, depending on the tracker.

- *Starting point*: $10.4 billion in January 2026, ranked 5th in Africa.

- *Year-to-date gain*: $8.47–$8.88 billion.

- *Core assets*: BUA Group, with BUA Cement and BUA Foods as the main drivers.

- *Behind Dangote*: Aliko Dangote remains Africa’s richest with $33.6–$34.4 billion.

*Recommendations*

1. *Watch the NGX*: BUA Cement and BUA Foods remain the engines. Investors tracking industrial stocks on the Nigerian Exchange can see real-time changes in Rabiu’s wealth.

2. *Focus on local manufacturing*: Rabiu’s rise shows the payoff in cement, food processing, and infrastructure within Nigeria’s market. Expansion into mining and energy gives BUA Group more upside.

3. *Track diversification*: While stock gains drove the jump, continued operational performance in sugar refining and manufacturing will determine if the $20 billion mark is breached and held.

*Conclusion*

Abdulsamad Rabiu’s climb from 5th to 2nd richest in Africa in just four months shows how fast industrial assets can reprice when listed companies rally. 

His story is less about inheritance and more about scaling local manufacturing into publicly traded giants. 

If BUA’s expansion continues and investor confidence holds, Nigeria’s industrial sector could see more billionaires rise alongside Dangote and Rabiu.

Reference

Political Urchins at Works - Twisted Facts to Sabotage Tegbe the Power Minister-Designate

Opposition has a place in democracy. It keeps government on its toes. But when opposition becomes sabotage, when lies are used to weaken institutions for selfish gain, it stops being politics. It becomes a threat to democracy itself. Nigerians must see it for what it is.

The headline "Tegbe Promise To Fix Nigeria’s Power Grid In 3 Months" is fake. Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe never promised to fix Nigeria’s power grid in three months. 

On May 6, 2026, during his Senate screening, Tegbe told lawmakers he would start immediate steps to stabilise the national grid within his first 100 days. 

He was clear: full structural reforms would take up to one year. His plan focuses on restoring trust in the power sector, solving gas supply problems, and rolling out electricity meters nationwide - That is it. No magic timeline, no false promise.

But political urchins ran with a lie. Headlines screamed that Tegbe vowed a 3-month fix. This is a deliberate misrepresentation to mislead the public and create early distrust. 

We have seen this playbook before. Under PMB, the same tactics forced out good officials. Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun resigned in 2018 after a certificate forgery scandal amplified online. 

EFCC leadership also faced relentless smear campaigns. 

Today, the target has shifted. The INEC Amupitan and now Power Tegbe are in the crosshairs. The goal is the same: destabilize, distract, and derail.

*Why Intentions Matter Online*

Not every post is meant to inform. Online content falls into four buckets:

1. *Information*: True and shared to educate.

2. *Misinformation*: False, but shared without intent to harm.

3. *Malinformation*: True facts twisted out of context to harm.

4. *Disinformation*: Deliberate lies made to deceive and destabilize.

The “3-month grid fix” headline is classic disinformation. It is designed to set Tegbe up for failure before he even starts. Don’t fall for it.

*Recommendations*

1. *Verify before you share*: Check official transcripts and statements. Tegbe’s screening was public record.

2. *Call out the hacks*: Expose outlets and blogs that recycle false claims for clicks and chaos.

3. *Hold media accountable*: Demand corrections and retractions when outlets misquote officials.

4. *Focus on substance*: Judge Tegbe by his 100-day and 1-year plans, not by fabricated promises.

5. *Protect democracy*: Don’t let paid noise drown out real debate on power, jobs, and security.

*Conclusion*

Tegbe’s real commitment is to start stabilising the grid in 100 days and drive structural reforms in a year - The 3-month lie is a weapon, not news. 

Political urchins who peddle this rubbish are not defending Nigerians. They are defending their own interests by keeping the country angry and divided. 

Nigerians must get smarter, check facts, and reject the noise. The power sector needs work, not witch-hunts.

2027 Election: Choosing Political EXPERIENCE over Political EXPERIMENT

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Slogan from Surulere in Lagos is out:

"Voting EXPERIENCE OVER EXPERIMENT" - some Surulerians decided how to vote based on experience and track records rather than experimenting.

*“Voting Experience Over Experiment”*  

That’s the message coming out of Surulere, Lagos. And it’s not a slogan for vibes. It’s a warning.

For too long, we’ve handed political slots to talkers with no track record. The result? Abandoned projects, recycled excuses, and leaders who treat public office like a training camp. Surulere said enough - and this is worthy of emulation on national level.

*Experience beats experiment. Every time.*

Leadership is not an internship. You don’t learn governance on the job with 2 million people’s lives on the line. Aspiring leaders should pass through political tutelage, rise through the ranks, and prove themselves in smaller arenas before touching the levers of power. 

What we’ve seen instead is dangerous: opportunists parachuting in during election season, buying visibility, making promises, and vanishing after the votes are counted. That’s not service. That’s gambling with our future.

*The stakes are real:*

1. *Constituency funds and projects*: Experienced hands know how to move motions, lobby ministries, and deliver. Experiments fumble the process and blame “Abuja.”

2. *Policy and oversight*: You can’t check a minister or hold an agency accountable if you’re still learning how a bill passes.

3. *Reputation*: Every weak performance makes it harder for the next competent candidate to be taken seriously.

*Recommendations for All Voters in 2027:*

1. *Audit the track record*: What has this person built, delivered, or defended before now? Check votes, motions, and community work from 2019-2025.

2. *Reject parachute candidates*: If they only appeared after INEC announced the timetable, they’re not here for you.

3. *Demand proof, not posters*: Town halls, project commissioning, and documented constituency interventions matter more than jingles.

*Conclusion*  

Nigerians cannot afford another trial-and-error term. The 2027 election is not a talent show. It’s about who can fight for us in Abuja on day one, not day 365. 

Choose the person with scars, wins, and receipts. 

Choose *Experience Over Experiment*. Anything less is selling your slot to political tourists.

How Peter Obi Sold a Mirage to Win 6.1 Million Votes in 2023

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*The Three Cons*

Peter Obi’s 2023 campaign didn’t win on record. It won on three calculated deceptions that pulled in 6.1 million votes.

1. *The Youth Con*: He branded himself “President of the Youths” at age 62. In 2023, the UN defines youth as 15-24. WHO uses 15-24. Nigeria’s African Youth Charter sets it at 15-35. 

At 62, Obi was past the start of old age by any standard. Yet thousands of Nigerians under 35 bought the label and never read the fine print.

2. *The Marginalization Con*: He framed himself as the answer to Southeast political exclusion. That narrative delivered roughly 40% of his votes from the region. The pitch ignored that elections are won on policy and governance, not ethnic grievance alone.

3. *The Religion Con*: He painted the APC Muslim-Muslim ticket as a “religious war” and mobilized churches against it. That move secured an estimated 45% of his support from Christian voters. He turned a campaign tactic into a faith conflict to drive turnout.

*Deceiving the Youths*

Calling yourself “President of the Youths” when you’re 62 isn’t strategy. It’s branding over 60-year-olds as the face of 25-year-olds. The deceit worked because most didn’t check the definitions. UN, WHO, and Nigeria’s own Youth Charter all place youth well below 40. 

The result: a generation that talks about change voted for a label, not a record. They missed the bait because they didn’t read between the lines.

*Recommendations for 2027*

Stop voting for slogans. Vote for track records you can verify.

1. *Check the record, not the rhetoric*. Rhetoric is the deceitful’s weapon. Look at what candidates did as governor, minister, or legislator. Dates, budgets, outcomes.

2. *Read the definitions*. If a 62-year-old can claim to be “President of the Youths” and get away with it, what else will slip past you?

3. *Watch for identity bait*. The playbook is simple: label yourself, create an enemy, collect votes. 

Next cycle it could be “Obedient” becoming “Obidient,” or non-indigenes contesting and reshaping constituencies like Oshodi-Isolo to favor ethnic blocs over local origins.

*Conclusion*

2023 proved that perception beats performance if you don’t pay attention. Obi didn’t win on governance in Anambra or on national policy detail. 

He won on three stories: youth leadership, regional marginalization, and religious threat.

If you want different results in 2027, change the input. Demand facts, not feelings. Verify claims. Vote for the person with receipts, not the one with the best slogan. 

Dangote: From Nigeria’s Industrial Pillar to Africa’s Catalyst for Prosperity

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Aliko Dangote’s name has long been tied to Nigeria’s economic ambitions. Now, his latest wave of projects signals a shift from national impact to continental transformation — with energy, food security, and industrial capacity at the center.

Powering Africa’s Future: The 20,000MW Vision

Dangote has announced plans to develop a 20,000-megawatt power project, a move that could fundamentally reshape Nigeria’s chronically unreliable electricity sector. 

For context, Nigeria’s current installed generation capacity sits at roughly 13,000MW, but frequent outages mean most households and businesses rely on diesel and petrol generators. 

Dangote framed the initiative as more than business expansion. “We are now going into power… 20,000 megawatts,” he said in a conversation with IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop, adding that energy, fertiliser, and industrial inputs are Africa’s most pressing needs. 

If delivered, the project would more than double Nigeria’s available power supply and reduce dependence on costly, polluting generators.

Feeding the Continent: The World’s Largest Fertiliser Ambition

On the agricultural front, Dangote is already operating Africa’s largest granulated urea complex in Lekki, Lagos, with a capacity of 3 million tonnes per year. That plant, commissioned in 2022 at a cost of $2.5 billion, supplies markets across sub-Saharan Africa and exports to Brazil, the U.S., India, and Mexico. 

Now he’s scaling up. Dangote says that within 40 months, Africa will stop importing fertiliser as his group expands output to become the world’s largest urea producer, surpassing even Qatar. 

The plan includes building six new ammonia and urea plants — four in Nigeria and two in Ethiopia — in partnership with global engineering firms like Topsoe, Saipem, and Thyssenkrupp. 

Ethiopia has already signed a $2.5 billion agreement with Dangote Group for a 3-million-tonne fertiliser plant in Gode, with Dangote holding 60% and Ethiopian Investment Holdings 40%. 

The goal is to produce 12 million tonnes of urea across the expanded network, directly tackling Africa’s low fertiliser consumption, which currently meets less than 20% of optimal agricultural needs. 

Why It Matters for Africa

These projects address two structural bottlenecks holding back African growth: energy deficit and food insecurity.

Energy drives manufacturing, healthcare, and digital access. A stable 20,000MW addition could unlock productivity for millions of small businesses and attract foreign investment that has long been deterred by power instability.

Fertiliser drives food security. With Africa importing over 6 million metric tonnes annually, local production cuts foreign exchange costs and insulates farmers from global price shocks, like those seen after the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Dangote’s model also creates jobs and strengthens agricultural value chains across Nigeria, Ethiopia, and beyond.

Conclusion: A Model for African-Led Development

Dangote’s trajectory reflects a broader philosophy: African investors must take the lead in solving Africa’s development challenges. 

From a refinery once dismissed as impossible to a fertiliser complex now positioning Africa for self-sufficiency, the pattern is consistent — identify a gap, invest at scale, and execute with global standards. 

If both the 20,000MW power project and fertiliser expansion materialize, the impact would extend far beyond Nigeria. 

It would represent a blueprint for industrialization that reduces reliance on imports, creates jobs, and builds regional economic resilience. 

In that sense, Dangote’s work is evolving from a blessing for Nigeria into a catalyst for Africa’s next chapter.

Nigeria’s 2,000 Tractor Plan: From Manual Labor to Mechanised Farms

Imagine a farmer in Kano who has spent decades tilling 2 hectares with a hoe and cutlass. Planting takes weeks, yields are low, and much of the harvest is lost before it reaches the market. 

That’s how 95% of Nigerian farmers work today, using manual labor on just 34 million of the country’s 70 million hectares of arable land. The result: delayed planting, poor yields, food shortages, and rural poverty. 

The Bank of Agriculture’s new plan changes that. It’s a nationwide mechanisation drive to deploy 2,000 tractors that will cultivate up to 1.2 million hectares yearly, reaching 1.2 to 1.5 million smallholder farmers. This is the largest single agricultural mechanisation programme ever in Africa.

*What it is and why it matters*

Nigeria’s mechanisation density is only 0.27 tractors per 1,000 hectares, far below Africa’s average of 2.5 and the global average of 3. With over 230 million people and a population set to double by 2050, manual farming can’t feed the country. 

The Renewed Hope National Agricultural Mechanisation Programme shifts from symbolic handouts to a structured, productivity-driven system. 

*How it works*

Tractors aren’t given to individuals. They’re entrusted to *mechanisation service providers* - often youth and women entrepreneurs - who operate them as a business. 

Each tractor can cover 600 hectares annually. Farmers book services through an app and pay as they use it, with repayments tied to hectares worked. 

The model is a revolving fund: repayments are reinvested to buy more equipment without relying on annual budgets. 

To avoid past failures where tractors were abandoned, BOA is setting up 36 mobile service trucks and 7 mega mechanisation centres for real-time maintenance and repairs. 

Each tractor also comes with two years of free service support.

*Impact on stakeholders*

- *Smallholder farmers*: Gain access to mechanisation without upfront costs through a pay-as-you-service model. Yields are targeted to rise above 2 tonnes per hectare.

- *Youth and women*: Become service providers, creating jobs and income streams.

- *Government and economy*: The shift from subsistence to commercial farming could make Nigeria a net food exporter and address hunger and insecurity.

*Key facts*

- 2,000 Belarus tractors rolled out in Feb 2025 under the NAM Programme.

- 10% of tractors go to agribusinesses for quick capital recovery; 90% go to service providers via state/local partnerships.

- 9,000 precision implements are also being distributed to support expanded farming.

- Over 100,000 applications were received in phase one, showing strong demand. 

*Recommendations*

Strengthen digital tracking to prevent misuse and ensure equitable access across the 360 constituencies. 

Expand local assembly through the proposed SKD tractor plant to cut costs and create jobs. Prioritize training for service providers on maintenance and business management.

*Conclusion*

This isn’t just about tractors. It’s about replacing inefficiency with scale, dignity, and opportunity. If sustained, the programme can transform Nigeria’s agriculture from survival to prosperity, one hectare at a time.

*Reference*