By Onyinyechi Obi
“Electricity is not merely the flow of current; it is the silent force that determines whether societies move forward or remain stalled.”
For years, Abia State stood on the wrong side of that force.
Here was a people celebrated for enterprise, craftsmanship and resilience, yet bound by an electricity system that was distant, slow and unresponsive. Power supply was uncertain, complaints were exhausting, and solutions felt perpetually out of reach. When electricity failed, businesses lost time, households lost comfort, and hope thinned, because even the simplest issues had to travel far beyond Abia before they could return, often unresolved.
Abia electricity consumers knew the pattern too well.
A billing complaint dragged for weeks.
A service fault lingered for months.
A clear injustice disappeared into files that answered to Abuja, not Abia.
This was never just a problem of megawatts.
It was a problem of distance, delay and disempowerment.
Abians were trapped in a system that heard them last, if at all.
But leadership changes the course of history the moment it chooses empathy over excuses.
Governor Alex Chioma Otti listened.
He listened to traders whose machines went silent in darkness.
He listened to households burdened by estimated billing without explanation.
He listened to industries constrained not by lack of ideas, but by lack of power.
And he listened to a people tired of shouting into regulatory silence.
Out of that listening came deliberate action.
In 2025, Governor Otti signed into law the Abia State Electricity Law, establishing the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Authority (ASERA) a statutory, independent regulator empowered to oversee electricity generation, distribution, trading and market conduct within Abia State.
By creating ASERA, Abia made a clear choice: to bring electricity regulation closer to the people it affects; to replace distant bureaucracy with local accountability; and to ensure that consumer protection, service standards and market discipline would no longer depend on how quickly a file moved in Abuja.
In making this possible, Dr. Alex Otti redefined power, not merely as voltage on a grid, but as responsibility in governance. He demonstrated that leadership is not about managing problems from a distance, but solving them at their source.
Yet, responsible governance also understands that laws alone do not change systems.
This is where Governor Otti’s leadership stood apart.
By appointing Mr. Emeka Onyegbule, a seasoned electricity regulator with deep institutional experience, to lead ASERA, the Governor demonstrated a rare commitment to expertise over convenience. It was a clear signal that Abia was not merely seeking authority, but capacity, not just control, but credibility.
Even then, the journey required patience.
After ASERA was established, Abia had to undergo a legally mandated transition before full regulatory authority could be transferred from the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). This period was not political delay; it was regulatory due process, designed to protect consumers, investors and operators while ensuring continuity of service.
And Abia did not wait idle. It prepared.
So when the final transfer of regulatory authority came in December 2025, Abia was ready.
With that transfer, electricity regulation became a local responsibility, handled within Abia and closer to the people it serves.
For electricity consumers, the implications are significant. ASERA now exists to protect consumers from unchecked practices, enforce fairness and transparency, promote proper metering, and hold electricity operators accountable to service standards. While regulation alone does not instantly guarantee constant power or cheaper tariffs, it creates the conditions for improvement, quicker dispute resolution, stronger oversight, better investor confidence and a market shaped around Abia’s realities.
This reform is also central to Governor Otti’s broader vision for Abia, a vision anchored on industrialisation, economic revival and long-term growth. No market thrives in darkness. No factory runs on excuses. Sustainable development does not survive without power.
Governor Otti understands this truth.
That is why this electricity reform is not cosmetic; it is foundational.
Today, Abia State stands at a decisive turning point.
ASERA has come to stay.
Electricity regulation has come home.
And Abia has reclaimed its voice.
