Uche Cecil Izuora
Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, says Nigeria’s power reforms offer a model for how developing economies can strengthen global energy security amid rising geopolitical fragmentation.
This was a key part of his keynote address delivered at the opening plenary of the Middle East Energy 2026 Leadership Summit in Dubai.
Speaking on the theme “Energy Security and the Effect of Geopolitics” at the summit’s 50th edition, Tegbe told an audience of ministers, industry leaders and international dignitaries that energy security in 2026 can no longer be defined by hydrocarbon reserves alone. He described it instead as the resilience of an entire system, from critical mineral supply chains and grid infrastructure to the capital and institutions that keep energy flowing to homes, hospitals and industries under stress.
The Minister positioned Nigeria as central to that global conversation, citing the country’s more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves and its two-decade record of reliable LNG supply to Europe and Asia. He pointed to the Electricity Act of 2023 as the most far-reaching reform of Nigeria’s power sector in a generation, noting that it ended a long-standing federal monopoly and effectively created 37 emerging electricity markets across the federation under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.
“Capital does not flee risk; it flees uncertainty. Investors will price risk all day long; what they cannot price is a rule that changes after the contract is signed,” the Minister said, describing Nigeria’s reform agenda as, at its core, a credibility agenda built on regulatory certainty, contract sanctity and bankable offtake.
The Minister set out four propositions for the summit’s delegates: that diversification, not diplomatic disengagement, is the surest form of strategic insurance; that grids now deserve the same strategic seriousness historically reserved for fuel supply; that affordability is itself a security issue; and that the global energy transition must be orderly, just and responsive to the circumstances of individual nations.
He argued that Africa, home to 600 million people still without electricity, sits not at the periphery of global energy geopolitics but at its centre, pointing to the continent’s mineral wealth, solar resource, youthful workforce and fast-growing demand as factors that will shape energy security in London, Tokyo, Washington and Dubai alike in the decades ahead. He called for partnerships that go beyond raw resource extraction to include local processing, manufacturing, skills transfer and patient capital.
“Nigeria has chosen to build. Africa has chosen to build. And we invite you, in the spirit of this remarkable city and this landmark fiftieth summit, to build with us,” the Minister told delegates in his closing remarks.
The Minister’s Dubai engagements continue through the week, including a ministerial fireside on financing Africa’s power future as part of the summit’s Africa Spotlight programme.