Introduction
As the largest oil producer in Africa, Nigeria has been typified by regulatory hurdles and socioeconomic disparities that encumber its energy transition efforts. Despite the country’s abundance in renewable energy resources such as solar, wind and hydroelectric power, the renewable energy sector stays infantile due to haphazard implementation of policies, bureaucratic inefficiencies and constant delays in project approvals.[1] Furthermore, the legal framework of Nigeria’s energy system is riddled with uncertainties, regular changes in government policies, regulations and incentives that discourage investments and project viability.[2]
When deliberating the triad of energy transition activism, environmental conservation and climate change, the concept of energy justice emerged principally to ensure the application of doctrines of justice and sustainability.[3] Consequentially, Energy Justice is perceived as the cornerstone for national advancements and is imperative for the attainment of sustainable energy transitions. Nonetheless, the interpretations of national legal associations with energy transitions, particularly in Nigeria, have foisted justice repercussions on numerous stakeholders.[4] This contribution examines the Nigerian energy sector and its legal implications on the viability of an energy transition. Through this would be a clear outline of the Energy Justice tenets alongside recommendations on how to uphold them, which emphasises the significance of Energy Justice in transitions.
Legal Deficiencies in Nigeria’s Energy Sector
Within energy law literature, scholars such as Olujobi have avowed that a principal deficiency of Nigeria’s legal landscape is the apparent policy complicatedness in decarbonisation and renewable energy expansion, which confounds stakeholders and their anticipated progressive efforts.[5] The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), for instance, which was adopted to advance Nigeria’s operations in the oil, gas and energy sectors[6], vaguely stipulated the modus operandi of a national transition and failed to identify its probable implications.[7] Additionally, the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (EIAA) declares that projects that could radically harm the environment be assessed and registered by the Ministry of Environment, however, its implementation is curtailed by inadequate resources and corrupt legal practices.[8] Legal ambiguities are also paired with weak enforcement as a result of the oil, gas and energy fields becoming forums where alliances were bound by monetary contributions to political parties willing to maintain corrupt oil importers’ interests that oppose other development targets.[9] Such shortcomings require legal frameworks that expand harmonisation among all demographics, restructure executive processes and solidify liability in the oil, gas and energy sphere.[10] The enforcement of progressive and just laws would catalyse decarbonisation and electrification, minimise emissions and stimulate the economy while conserving environmental prosperity, in pursuance of the PIA.[11]
Moving Forward: Incorporating Energy Justice into Nigerian Energy Transition Policies
It is becoming more recognised that the duality of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries enduring climate susceptibilities and responsibilities has impeded the enactment of energy justice.[12] Across academic disciplines such as Geography, ‘the’ energy transition in Africa is rendered an unequal social and dynamic procedure.[13] For justice experts, energy justice “seeks to apply justice principles to energy policy, energy production and systems, energy consumption, energy activism, energy security, the energy trilemma, political economy of energy and climate change”.[14] The purpose of this research is to illuminate the interconnected dimensions of energy justice that are impacted by energy transition aspirations.
In terms of promoting and accentuating recognition justice, Nigeria can benefit from Kenya’s experiences of formulating energy policies by adopting bottom-up methodologies. Kenya’s esteemed transition to technologically enhanced energy through maendeleo cookstoves signified the benefits of considering household sentiments within transition goals.[15] TIMES-Nigeria-Residential is a system that identifies national energy system models for SSA states and was evaluated by Dioha and Kumar, to which they deduced the model as an efficient system that aids Nigerian decision-makers for energy transition policies.[16] Similar to Kenya, if Nigeria incorporates household activities and effects, bottom-up approaches like TINIRES can offer pertinent insights into energy access and low-carbon resources.[17]
Distributional justice sources deliberation where “questions about the desirability of technologies in principle become entangled with issues that relate to specific localities”. This can be enhanced through ensuring engagement and profit sharing, as identified in South Africa’s recent energy governance, where investments into energy research and development aided climate change mitigation and transition efforts. Currently, Nigeria’s hydroelectric power sector only utilises 17 percent of its larger and 2 percent of its smaller resources due to weak political will and corrupt alliances.[18] The significance of the implementation of legislation that promotes renewable energy research and development must be recognised, whereby economic gains are equally distributed across regions in Nigeria.
Procedural justice underscores and upholds “principles of due process, representative justice, and justice as public participation”.[19] China, similar to Nigeria, has experienced socio-economic, political and technical deterrents in the energy transition process; however, China has successfully implemented electrification strategies through legislation that endorses Demand-Side Management (DSM). This is a strategic model that embodies procedural justice as regulations address supply-side chains, and stakeholder participation is maintained for procedural engagement in transition pathways.[20] Nigerian energy transition policies employing DSM programs would be advantageous as they maintain energy usage, preservation and management, which are consequential to the route of a transition.
Restorative justice is significant when contemplating the feasibility of social cohesion as well as limiting “regime resistance” within energy transition operations.[21] In this vein, the Nigerian government should deploy existing legal tools that ensure restorative justice and amend policies that certify resolution to affected populations such as the 2007 National Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency Act (NESREA) and the PIA. These can be distinct legal measures outlined for redress of wrongdoings or harm on victims, and a noteworthy example is identified in the measures assumed by Shell to compensate the Bodo community[22] in Nigeria.
Concluding Thoughts
Nigerian energy policies should reflect all germane dimensions of energy transitions to maximise welfare among stakeholders and across regions, i.e. poor communities, women and the economy. The persistent dual dilemma of urgency and justice, weak and corrupt legal practices as well as limited political will and participation impede the feasibility of a just and sustainable energy transition in Nigeria. Therefore, it’s important to change how we view transitions by combining them with progressive ideas to create more human-focused energy policies. Humanistic reflections in decision-making processes and Nigerian legal instruments reinforce decarbonisation and development while also including the perspectives and collaborations from all segments of civil society. A maintenance of such would consequently bestow the largest oil producing African country with the highest chance of attaining a just and sustainable energy transition
[1] Munachi C Ugwu and Adefolake O Adewusi, ‘Navigating legal and policy challenges in the energy transition: case studies from the United States and Nigeria’ (2024) 6(4) IJARSS 506, 510 < 10.51594/ijarss.v6i4.988> accessed 9 February 2025.
[2] Aarti Gungah, Nnaemeka V Emodi and Michael O Dioha, ‘Improving Nigeria’s renewable energy policy design: A case study approach’ (2019) Energy Policy 130 89 <10.1016/j.enpol.2019.03.059> accessed 9 February 2025.
[3] Kirstin Jenkins et al, ‘Energy justice: A conceptual review’ (2016) 11 Energy Research Soc Sci 174 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.10.004> accessed 18 December 2022.
[4] Raphael J Heffron, ‘Applying energy justice into the energy transition’ (2022) 156 Renew Sustain Energy Rev 111936.
[5] Olusola J Olujobi, ‘COVID-19 Pandemic and Illegal Oil Refineries in Africain Evans Osabuohien et al (eds) Socioeconomic Shocks and Africa’s Development Agenda (1st edn, Routledge 2022).
[6] The Petroleum Industry Act 2021.
[7] John-Felix K Akinbami et al, ‘Biogas energy use in Nigeria: current status, future prospects and policy implications’ (2001) 5(1) Renewable Sustain Energy Rev 97.
[8] Oluwasegun A Somefun, ‘The erratic electric power supply in Nigeria, causes and remedy’ (2015) 7(3) Int J Eng Sci Invent 51.
[9] Ogbewere Ijewereme, ‘Anatomy of corruption in the Nigerian public sector: Theoretical perspectives and some empirical explanations’ (2015) 5(2) SAGE Open 1, 3.
[10] Ho Soon Min, Renewable Energy & Wastewater Treatment (Ideal International E Publication 2018).
[11] PIA (n6); PricewaterhouseCoopers, The Petroleum Industry Act Redefining the Nigerian Oil and Gas Landscape (Pwc 2021).
[12] Hamza Hamouchene and Katie Sandwell, Dismantling green colonialism: energy and climate justice in the Arab region (Pluto Press 2023).
[13] Kirby Calvert, ‘From ‘energy geography’ to ‘energy geographies’: perspectives on a fertile academic borderland’ (2016) 40(1) Prog Hum Geogr 105.
[14] Kirstin Jenkins et al, ‘Energy justice: A conceptual review’ (2016) 11 Energy Research Soc Sci 174, 175 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2015.10.004.
[15] Stephen Karekezi, ‘Biomass Energy in Africa: Case Studies of Successful Interventions’ (Solar World Congress, Budapest, Hungary, August 23 – 27 1993).
[16] Michael O Dioha and Atul Kumar, ‘Exploring sustainable energy transitions in Sub-Saharan Africa residential sector: The case of Nigeria’ (2020) 117 Renew Sustain Energy Rev 109510, 109511.
[17] João P Gouveia, Patrícia Fortes and Júlia Seixas, ‘Projections of energy services demand for residential buildings: insights from a bottom-up methodology’ (2012) 47 Energy 430.
[18] Sunday O Oyedepo, ‘Energy and sustainable development in Nigeria: the way forward’ (2012) 2(1) Energy Sustain 15.
[19] Benjamin K Sovacool et al, ‘Energy decisions reframed as justice and ethical concerns’ (2016) 1(5) Nature Energy 1, 5.
[20] Aoife Brophy Haney et al, ‘Demand-side Management Strategies and the Residential Sector: Lessons from International Experience’ (2010) EPRG Working Paper 1034.
[21] Ibid.
[21] The Bodo Community v Shell [2014] EWHC 958 (TCC).
