Abia State Governor Alex Otti has declared that the state is now insulated from power outages caused by frequent collapses of Nigeria’s national electricity grid, thanks to a new renewable energy initiative.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday at Government House in Umuahia, Governor Otti said his administration has begun converting organic waste into electricity using biogas technology, ensuring a more dependable energy supply for residents.
Otti explained that the state has also taken steps to regulate its own power infrastructure, moving away from direct oversight by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). Under the new arrangement, the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC)—which supplies power to Abia—has agreed to the state’s plan for localised power regulation and generation.
“This is a pilot programme,” Otti said. “Instead of discarding waste, we can turn it into clean energy and power many areas, particularly the Umuahia ring-fence.”
He noted that as of 24th December, the Abia State Electricity Regulation Authority took over regulatory responsibility for electricity distribution, generation, and transmission within the state. This shift, he said, has helped shield Abians from blackouts tied to national grid instability.
Otti also pointed out that parts of Abia’s own power infrastructure now fall under state authority, meaning that when the national grid recently collapsed for the second time in 2026, the state maintained electricity in many areas.
The national grid failure affected multiple power plants and led to widespread outages across Nigeria, with generation dropping sharply and distribution companies receiving zero allocation during the collapse.