Resolving Energy Challenges: Implementing and Evaluating an Energy Justice Framework for Nigeria

Nigeria is a country with vast conventional and non-conventional energy resources including renewable energies for example. However, it still faces significant energy poverty and challenges thus, affecting the socio-economic growth and development of the country. The energy access and poverty challenges are manifested through the country’s inability to utilise its energy resources adequately and efficiently for the betterment of its people. For over five decades, since the discovery of hydrocarbon in commercial quantity, the country has consistently struggled with poor energy access and poverty despite the vast energy resources available at its disposal. One could argue that for a country with huge deposits of energy resources, no Nigerian should be energy poor. Among the reasons for the long-running energy challenges is the nature of its institutional, legal, policy and regulatory frameworks applicable in the energy sector. To a large extent, the shortcomings in the frameworks continue to exacerbate the energy access and poverty challenges, particularly through various injustices manifesting in the country’s energy systems. Thus, this research examines the extent to which the concept of ‘energy justice’ and the principles derived from it could be used to resolve Nigeria’s energy access and poverty challenges. It considers how proposed energy justice ‘imperatives’ drawn from the concept could inform policymakers as well as decision-makers in their quest to resolve the challenges, including the articulation of providing just energy systems. This research demonstrates how the energy justice concept could provide new and specific approaches to achieving long-term solutions to energy access and poverty challenges underpinned by justice concerns in Nigeria. Keywords: Energy justice; Energy Crisis; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Energy Policy; Energy Justice Imperatives; Energy Access; Nigeria