Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has called for the building of a regional energy framework that prioritises the development of an accurate resource dossier, which will be used as the foundation for holistic energy policy development and implementation in the South-East Zone.
Governor Otti, stated this in an address entitled “Powering industrialisation in the South-East :The case for a regional energy strategy”, at the just concluded South East Vision 2050 Regional Stakeholders’ Forum, held Wednesday, February 4, 2026, at the International Conference Centre Enugu.
He recommended the development of a broad energy industry strategy anchored on 3 connected approaches, namely: resource identification and optimisation, sustained investments in critical energy infrastructure and adoption of the right market outlook.
He said that at the centre of this model should be value creation, customer satisfaction and fair deal for every stakeholder group.
He said that the first leg of the framework, which deals with resource identification and optimisation encapsulates layers of processes that are critical to the identification, documentation, mapping and activation of all sources and channels of conventional and renewable energy domiciled in the region.
This phase according to Governor Otti, will form the foundation for building a robust regional energy solutions strategy, because not much can be achieved in the push for industrial-scale energy sufficiency unless government develop a strategic pathway for identifying the true strength of the region with respect to energy resources and size.
“At the moment, we know that Imo State holds about the largest reserve of natural gas in West Africa with experts estimating the size to be in the trillions of cubic feet, (Tcf).
“In Abia, Imo and Anambra, you find significant crude oil deposits and here in Enugu and in nearby Ebonyi State, large untapped deposits of coal exist. We also know that this region has extensive capacity for industrial energy production using solar vehicles, hydropower resources and biomass.
“It has also been established that significant, but untapped natural gas deposits exist in the Ukwa West Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State, especially around Owaza, where the Abia Industrial Innovation Park (AIIP) is located.”
He observed that the South-East region has enough resources to drive a comprehensive energy plan with a view to achieving optimal industrial output, but noted that for the power-resource potential of the region is to be fully harnessed, that a deliberate plan must be put in place to make that happen.
He however noted that not much shall be achieved by just talking about these prospects, because talk, as they say, is cheap.
