Purpose: Nigeria sits on massive renewable potential, yet clean power barely trickles into the national grid. This paper digs into why the transition keeps stalling despite the Electricity Act 2023 handing states the keys to their own power markets. Rather than celebrating the new legal framework, it examines the commercial and technical friction that is blocking developers from connecting to the grid. Methodology: This study used a qualitative policy review to examine Nigeria's renewable energy regulatory framework by reviewing key legal documents alongside relevant academic and industry publications. The selected materials, published mainly between 2023 and 2026, were examined through a structured narrative analysis to identify policy gaps affecting renewable energy policy readiness. Findings: The findings show that Nigeria has made important legal and policy progress, but implementation remains weak. The electricity market is fragmented, and renewable-energy developers continue to face challenges such as unclear federal-state coordination, limited grid capacity and flexibility, non-cost-reflective tariffs, and insufficient use of smart-grid, storage, and circular-economy technologies. The preliminary assessment produced a readiness score of 2.33 out of 6, suggesting that while policy ambition is evident, the conditions needed for effective market delivery are still inadequate. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The six-pillar framework gives researchers a concrete diagnostic for measuring transition readiness beyond checkbox compliance. For industry players, it highlights exactly where projects get stuck between permitting chaos and unbankable contracts. For policymakers, the paper makes the case for binding federal-state coordination treaties, mandatory storage and digital standards, aggressive mini-grid scaling, and placing consumer affordability at the absolute center of market design rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Omojola Awogbemi, S. A. Aasa, Oluwaseun O. Martins, Anthony O. Onokwai
Abstract The worrisome economic, environmental, and energy security implications of the continuous use of fossil-based sources as road transport fuel have made Nigeria consider sustainable alternatives. With the country’s abundant natural gas reserves and growing climate commitments, compressed natural gas (CNG) presents a viable pathway for decarbonizing road transport, curbing urban air pollution, and ensuring energy security. The current study examines the adoption, deployment, and integration of CNG into Nigeria’s road transport ecosystem. The study reviews the CNG resources and infrastructure, impact and achievements, and highlights the challenges of CNG deployment as a road transport fuel, case studies from other jurisdictions, suggestions for improvement, and future research perspectives. Though reasonable grounds have been covered, overcoming the technological and infrastructure gaps, economic and financial inadequacy, health, environmental, and safety issues, ensuring social and stakeholder acceptance, and instituting appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks are fundamental to ensure scalability and energy security. Nigeria can leverage case studies from other jurisdictions to leapfrog and accelerate nationwide deployment, mitigate risks, and guarantee a low-carbon road transport future for Nigeria. More sensitization campaigns, investment and fiscal incentive models, price reduction strategies, and rapid upgrade of CNG infrastructure across the country to ensure wide acceptability, affordability, and nationwide deployment. Future research should integrate lifecycle and techno-economic analysis, smart metering, blockchain tracking, spatial modeling, macroeconomic impact, and process optimization to guide stakeholders in designing a resilient, inclusive, and scalable CNG transport framework for Nigeria.