A Review Of The Legal Framework On Renewable Energy And The Drive For Energy Sustainability In Nigeria

Energy and power generation have challenged most developing countries,including Nigeria. For decades, Nigeria's electricity access has been hampered bypoor management and lack of infrastructure. Recently, the adverse impacts ofclimate change and environmental degradation have made transmitting to morerenewable energy sources imperative. In addition, using renewables in energygeneration provides an opportunity to achieve sustainable development. A robustgovernance and regulatory framework are significant to Nigeria's renewable andsustainable electricity generation, distribution, and use. Adopting a doctrinalmethod, the research examines the existing legal and policy framework and itsefficacy in addressing the transition to renewable energy sources, energy shortage,and climate-related energy issues. It is argued that positioning Nigeria’s energysector to encourage using renewables to produce energy is essential to ensuringenvironmental sustainability. Compared to previous research, this researchengages a socio-legal perspective in evaluating the effectiveness of energysustainability in Nigeria. Relying on secondary data such as laws, policies, andstatistics, the research finds that a lack of access to electricity still exists in Nigeria,and the Country has been unable to adopt renewable energy options effectively.Findings in this research also show that the legal and policy framework, especiallythe Electricity Act of 2023, does not sufficiently promote and incentivise the useof renewable energy across stakeholder levels.