LEGAL ANALYSIS OF STATUTORY AND ANTI-CORRUPTION ENFORCEMENT REGIMES IN THE PETROLEUM AND ELECTRICTY SECTORS OF NIGERIA
Abstract
Nigeria’s petroleum and electricity sectors constitute the foundation of the country’s economy and are supported by an extensive framework of constitutional, statutory, regulatory, and anti-corruption laws intended to promote transparency, accountability, environmental sustainability, and prudent resource governance. Notwithstanding this elaborate legal blueprint, the sectors continue to experience pervasive corruption, weak institutional coordination, regulatory fragmentation, revenue leakages, environmental degradation, tariff and billing irregularities, and inadequate public accountability. The persistence of these governance failures raises fundamental concerns regarding the effectiveness of existing enforcement mechanisms. Against this background, this article interrogates why have Nigeria’s comprehensive statutory and anti-corruption enforcement regimes failed to achieve effective governance, transparency, and accountability within the petroleum and electricity sectors despite the existence of robust legal frameworks? This paper argues that Nigeria’s principal governance challenge is not legislative insufficiency but rather deficient enforcement characterized by overlapping institutional mandates, political interference, weak inter-agency collaboration, and selective prosecution. The article adopts a doctrinal legal research methodology, complemented by comparative approaches examining the Constitution, the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, Electricity Act, 2023, NEITI Act, 2007, NOGICDA, 2010, Climate Change Act, 2021, FOIA, 2011, Official Secrets Act, 1962, CAMA, 2020, the EFCC Act, ICPC Act, NFIU Act and relevant judicial authorities. The article concludes that the effectiveness of Nigeria’s energy governance depends less on enacting additional legislation than on strengthening institutional credibility, enforcement capacity, prosecutorial independence, and oversight. It recommends the enactment of a Unified Energy Sector Enforcement and Accountability Act and statutory amendments introducing automatic sanctions, stronger audit enforcement and institutional reforms.
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