In 2005, Nigeria enacted the Electric Power Sector Reform Act to “establish the legal framework for the formation of initial and successor companies, transfers assets and liabilities from the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to new entities, and creates a competitive electricity market.” The previous year, Abdulaziz Yari had graduated with a diploma in secretarial studies from the Sokoto State Polytechnic. He was the state Chairman of the All-Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) in Zamfara State in north-west Nigeria.
Over the 21 years since then, the paths of power sector reform in Nigeria and Abdulaziz Yari’s career in power have negotiated different trajectories to a place of unadulterated intercourse.
Power sector reform in Nigeria involved more than the un-bundling of NEPA or what became known as Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). It also entailed ensuring the existence of a system to regulate both investment in the new entities and competition between them.
One year into the reform process, Geregu Power PLC was created in November 2006 as a publicly traded company with interests in the newly un-bundled power sector. It began operations in 2007. That was the same year that Abdulaziz Yari was first elected to the House of Representatives to represent the good people of Anka/Talata Mafara Federal Constituency of Zamfara State.
