The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) and other stakeholders in the nation’s power sector on Monday rejected the continued federal government sole control of electricity matters in the country.

The state chief executives through their Chairman, Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, said the proposed legislation was unconstitutional in view of the federal status of Nigeria. The governors in their objection to the bill said it would be unconstitutional and an unjustifiable act of overreach for the Senate to consider and pass a bill that continue to treat the federation as one single electricity jurisdiction or sector.

Fayemi said, “While a single Electric Power Sector Reform Act may have been useful as a catalyst for the sector in the early years of the Fourth Republic, the states have all come of age, literally and metaphorically, and the arrangements must change in a way that accepts and respects the maturity of the States in electricity matters.

“This is a reality that this Senate Electricity Bill does not recognise and take account of but at best only pays the most cursory lip service. “After 71 years of sole and unchallenged central control of the electricity sector, we live with an electricity sector divided into two parts.