Fashola Pens Foreword for New Book on Nigeria’s Renewable Energy Law

Former Lagos Governor and ex-Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola, CON, SAN, has written the foreword for Renewable Energy: Law and Policy in Nigeria – A Crosscutting Perspective by Dr Bitrus Joseph Bulama.

Dated May 1, 2025, the foreword hails the 12-chapter, 900-page book as a timely, seminal work on Nigeria’s renewable energy framework, published by Bar and Bench Publishers, Abuja. It launches publicly on February 11, 2026.

Fashola, SAN, traced Nigeria’s power sector evolution from the 1999 Constitution and 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act, which ended Government monopoly post-2013 privatisation under President Goodluck Jonathan. Assuming office in 2015 under President Muhammadu Buhari, he led a lean Ministry shifted to policy enablers, releasing generation/distribution assets and 5,000 staff.

Key initiatives under his watch included Nigeria’s first Energy Mix Document targeting 30% renewables in a 30GW capacity by 2030, the 2015 Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy, 2016 Mini-Grid Regulations, and 2017 Building Energy Efficiency Code. He praises the book’s historical overview from Lagos’s 1896 60kW power station, Chapter Four’s legal/policy analysis, and Chapter Five’s core discussion of development challenges – many addressed via his Power Sector Recovery Programme.

Fashola spotlights institutions like the Rural Electrification Agency, Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Energy Commission, and National Council on Climate Change, plus 2025 solar panel budgeting at the Presidency, as proof of commitment. He suggests undocumented household/business investments may exceed 30% national energy use. Chapters Six and Seven cover law’s role in investment and electricity access.

Commending Dr Bulama’s clear exposition of complex concepts, Fashola recommends the book for policymakers, Lawyers, energy experts, researchers, and advocates navigating Nigeria’s renewable regulatory landscape.

Dr Bulama, PhD in Energy/Natural Resources Law (University of Dundee.  Master’s’; University of Jos LLB), called to the Bar in 2003, is an Assistant Professor at American University Nigeria, Yola, and convener of Initiative for Climate Action and Advocacy.