Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has announced that the state is no longer affected by power outages arising from repeated collapses of Nigeria’s national grid, following new investments in renewable energy generated from organic waste.
The governor made the disclosure on Thursday while speaking to journalists at the Government House in Umuahia.
Otti explained that his administration has begun converting waste materials into biogas, which is then used to generate electricity for residents. He added that the development has effectively removed Abia from the regulatory control of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
According to him, the new power arrangement has been successfully negotiated with and accepted by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), which oversees electricity distribution in the state.
“This is a pilot programme. Instead of throwing away waste, we can turn it into clean energy, and we will be able to power a lot of places, particularly the Umuhaia in-farms.
“I had reported earlier that our offers to EEDC have been accepted, and we are in the process of raising the funds to pay off EEDC.
“On the 24th of December, the Abia state electricity regulation authority took over the regulation of power from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. So everything about distribution, generation, and transmission is going to be regulated within the state.
“The whole idea is to ensure regulation of efficiency and independence in the state, just like the Aba Power provides power for the Aba in-farms.
“I am sure you would have been aware that some of the disasters (national grid collapses) that happened recently, our state was not affected, because a whole part of our power assets is within our authority.
“That is the whole idea of acquiring the whole Umuahia in-farms.
“I am happy we are making a lot of progress in that regard,” he said.
His remarks come against the backdrop of another failure of the national grid, which collapsed for the second time in 2026 on Tuesday, plunging several parts of the country into darkness.
