…Lagos Energy Commissioner ties urban renewal to reliable power

Lagos State’s Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Biodun Ogunleye, has said that the renewal of established cities such as Lagos must go beyond rebuilding roads and buildings to restoring their ability to deliver dependable services, with reliable electricity at the centre of that effort.

Delivering the lead presentation at a panel on Urban Renewal, Regeneration and the Transformation of Older Cities at [event name, venue and date], Ogunleye framed regeneration as a systems problem rather than a construction exercise.

“An older city does not need a new identity. It needs a new operating system,” he said. “Renewal is not the demolition of the past. It is the restoration of the city’s ability to serve the future.”

Six pressures on older districts

Citing UN-Habitat’s World Cities Report 2024, the Commissioner identified six pressures reshaping established urban districts: ageing and overloaded power, water and sanitation networks; climate exposure from flooding, heat and stressed drainage; conflicting demands on land from housing, commerce and mobility; housing affordability, overcrowding and tenure insecurity; fragmented governance across agencies, utilities and capital; and the loss of heritage and livelihoods to poorly managed renewal.

In response, he outlined a six-part framework for what he called “genuine regeneration”, covering physical infrastructure, utilities (power, water, waste and digital), economic activity, social protection and housing, cultural heritage, and climate resilience.

He pointed to ongoing road, drainage and collector reconstruction across parts of Lagos Island as a live example. The aim, he said, is to reduce recurring flooding and improve movement and commerce in the historic core, while managing disruption, coordinating utility relocation and safeguarding traders and heritage.

The generator economy

Ogunleye described unreliable electricity as “the invisible constraint” on urban productivity. Drawing on a 2024 study by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Lagos State Government, he noted that an estimated 4.5 million fossil-fuel generator sets operate in the state, that the grid met only about 20 per cent of electricity demand in the study, and that generators produce an estimated 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year.

“The generator is not merely a backup device; at scale, it becomes an expensive parallel urban infrastructure system,” he said.

The shift Lagos needs, he argued, is from a “generator-powered district” marked by high fuel costs, noise, pollution and uneven reliability, to a “serviced district” with networked electricity, shared infrastructure, measured service standards and utility planning linked to land use. Dependable energy infrastructure, he said, should be located where people already live, work and trade.

Reform before scale

The Commissioner traced the state’s institutional groundwork to the 2024 Lagos State Electricity Law, followed by the Lagos State Electricity Regulatory Commission (LASERC) and the Lagos Independent System Operator (LAISO) in 2025–26. Work on investment, licensing, contracting and consumer protection is ongoing.

“An energy market is an instrument of urban policy, not an end in itself,” he said.

He cited two projects that show what neighbourhood-scale implementation could look like. Victoria Island Power, a commercial district upgrade with 40MW of planned embedded capacity and a 12.6km dedicated underground feeder network to supply local businesses, is under development and not yet operational. The Akute independent power plant, an existing dormant asset with 26MW of base contracted capacity, is set for rehabilitation under a concession agreement in 2026 to supply public services.

People must be able to stay

Ogunleye insisted that the true test of regeneration is whether existing residents can remain and prosper. He set out a social compact built on four commitments: protecting renters, traders and vulnerable households through open consultation and fair procedures; preserving significant architecture and neighbourhood identity; including affordable housing, accessible public space and livelihood opportunities in plans; and staging works to protect access, utilities, safety and trading during construction.

“Regeneration without inclusion risks becoming displacement with better architecture,” he warned.

Making neighbourhoods investable

On financing, he proposed that districts be planned as single units, with roads, drainage, power, water and land use coordinated before procurement. Public capital should fund common goods, while private and public-private partnership (PPP) capital funds service assets. Contracts should pay for outcomes such as reliability, maintenance and resilience, not just construction, and affordability and local commerce should be ring-fenced.

He also presented an illustrative three-stage playbook, which he stressed is not a set of announced government deadlines. It would begin with a diagnosis phase of up to 12 months, mapping infrastructure, flood risk, residents, traders and power demand. A delivery phase from 12 to 36 months would bundle priority works and pilot district energy zones. After 36 months, a scale-up phase would replicate what works and use performance data to attract more capital. Progress would be tracked through power reliability, flood disruption, business continuity, affordability and resident satisfaction.

He closed with a challenge to policymakers and investors: “Do not just rebuild the city. Renew what the city can do.” The goal, he said, is a Lagos that is more resilient, more inclusive and more productive.