The Nigeria Energy Summit Experience: Building for the Energy Sector
It started with a LinkedIn post.
Engr. Chijioke Okwuokenye, MD/CEO of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), shared that he would be at Nigeria Energy 2026 in Lagos. I read it twice. Then I signed up.
I had already planned to attend Moonshot by TechCabal. Sorry, TechCabal. People in Nigeria’s power sector were going to be in one place for three days, and I wanted to be there.
Getting there
My flight was 7:40, but it left at 9 pm.
If you fly domestic in Nigeria, you already know this story, so I won’t tell it twice.
My co-founder, Daniel, was waiting when I landed in Lagos. We had a little chitchat at his place, and we went to bed to recharge. Day 1 was already gone. I wasn’t going to show up for Day 2 tired.
The next morning I ran standup with my team, got a ride, and went straight to Landmark Centre.
Day 2: Distribution reform runs on paper
I sat in on a panel titled Distribution Sector Reform: The Case for Recapitalisation, Consolidation or Franchise Restructuring. On stage was Dr. Musiliu Oseni, Chairman of NERC, with Derek Chime of ARM-Harith, Dr. Oluwasegun Osidipe of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and Elom Lassey of the IFC. Aishat Raji of Equator VC moderated.
I’m not an energy engineer. I build software for documents.
But sitting there, I kept looking underneath the three options on that slide. Recapitalisation means due diligence files and investment agreements. Consolidation means transfer documents and board approvals. Franchise restructuring means franchise contracts. All three mean filings with a regulator, and since the Electricity Act 2023, that can be a state regulator too.
Every option on that stage moves through paper before it moves a single megawatt.
That part of the sector, I understand.
On the exhibition floor
After the session, I went booth to booth. No pitch deck. Just a DoxFlowy notebook, a pen, and questions for business owners about how contracts, approvals, and sign-offs move inside their companies.
I wanted to hear it from them, not assume it. And I made real connections.
A Serbian manufacturer reading the market
One of my favourite conversations was with Radivoj Djuricic, who handles business development for Feman, a manufacturer from Jagodina, Serbia. They make cable lugs, connectors, clamps, and metering and distribution enclosures.
He told me what they’re bringing to Nigeria’s energy sector and why they came. For them, an event like this is data. Who walks up to the booth. What they ask. What they already use. They take that home and make better market decisions with it.
I liked that. It’s the same reason I was there.
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Nice guy too. Nice enough to let me sit at his booth long enough to post a WhatsApp story announcing my new role as head of sales for DoxFlowy. CEOs sell too.
Meeting Abia’s electricity regulator
Then I met Emeka Onyegbule, Chairman and CEO of the Abia State Electricity Regulatory Authority (ASERA).
Some context if you’re outside the sector. The Electricity Act 2023 lets states regulate electricity within their own borders. Abia passed its Electricity Law in 2025, Governor Alex Otti inaugurated ASERA’s board, and the Authority took over regulation of the state’s electricity market from NERC in December 2025.
So Emeka is building a regulator almost from scratch. Licences. Applications. Consultations. Orders. Approvals. A regulator is, in a very real sense, a document machine.
We talked about where DoxFlowy could fit into their process and make it more efficient. That conversation alone was worth the delayed flight.
Day 3: Gas, contracts and getting paid
Day 3 was the last day. I started with a panel on Domestic Gas Supply, Pricing Reform and Power Plant Reliability: Making the Connection Work. Omono Okonkwo, an energy analyst, moderated. Olufemi Sami, CFO of Transafam Power, sat beside Olabode Sowunmi, a consultant to the House Committee on Power and the Senate Committee on Gas, and Obehi Ojeaga, COO of Nigeria Machine Tools.
Gas into power plants. Pricing. Reliability. Easy to say in one sentence. Hard to keep running when every link in the chain is a different company holding a different contract.
After the session, I ran into Olufemi on the exhibition floor, and we took a picture. CFOs at generation companies sit right where gas contracts, invoices, and payments meet. That’s a seat I want to understand better.
Then Oti Ikomi, Founder and CEO of Proton Energy Limited, took the podium for a thought leadership session titled Rebuilding Gas Supply Confidence: Payment Security, Contract Performance and What Both Sides of the Relationship Need.
Read that title again. Payment security. Contract performance. Both sides of the relationship.
That’s a talk about trust. And in business, trust gets written down. Who agreed to what. Who signed. When the invoice went out. Whether it matched the contract. When those records are scattered across desks and inboxes, confidence goes with them.
What I’m taking home
Nigeria’s power sector is changing shape. States are setting up their own regulators. DisCos are being pushed to recapitalise, consolidate or restructure. Gas suppliers and power plants are working to rebuild trust around contracts and payments. Foreign manufacturers are flying in to read the market.
All of that change creates paperwork. Most of it still moves slowly, by hand, from desk to desk.
That’s where DoxFlowy lives. We’re building with this sector in mind, and two days at Landmark Centre told me I’m in the right room.
The grid runs on power. The sector runs on paper.
