1. Introduction
The 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, currently taking place in Belém, Brazil, marks a defining moment in the evolution of international climate law. The conference signals a movement away from aspirational pledges toward the domestication of climate commitments through enforceable legal and institutional frameworks. For developing economies such as Nigeria, COP30 has revived a critical question at the heart of environmental governance: how can national law serve as the instrument that translates climate ambition into economic transformation?
On 5 November 2025, the Nigerian Senate took a decisive step in this direction by advancing the Electric Vehicle Transition and Green Mobility Bill to its second reading. The proposed legislation seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory regime for the manufacture, importation, assembly, and use of electric vehicles (EVs) in Nigeria. It also integrates environmental goals with industrial policy, fiscal incentives, and technological innovation.
This article analyses the Bill against the broader backdrop of Nigeria’s constitutional and statutory framework, and the normative developments likely to be reaffirmed at COP30. It argues that the Bill represents a potentially transformative moment for energy, industrial, and environmental law in Nigeria, provided it is implemented within a coherent legal and institutional structure that ensures proportionality, accountability, and integration with existing legislation.
2. The Context of the Electric Vehicle Bill and COP30
COP30 will be held in the Brazilian Amazon, a region symbolic of ecological stewardship and environmental justice. The conference will likely reinforce commitments around technology transfer, climate finance, and the “just transition” principle, the idea that the shift to a low-carbon economy must generate equitable industrial and employment opportunities rather than economic displacement.
Nigeria’s EV Bill exemplifies a domestic legal expression of this global agenda. It represents the country’s attempt to codify a just transition pathway through legislative rather than merely policy-based measures. The Bill’s ambition is to create an enabling environment for EV production, regulate market entry, promote local content, and strengthen environmental sustainability across the automotive sector.
If enacted, it would place Nigeria among the few African jurisdictions alongside Rwanda and Ethiopia that have enacted substantive EV legislation. Yet Nigeria’s approach is legally distinct: rather than relying on broad tax incentives and voluntary compliance, it adopts a command-and-control model reinforced by fiscal inducements and strict penalties.
3. Legislative Design and Industrial Objectives
At the heart of the Bill lies a clear industrial logic. It requires foreign automakers to partner with Nigerian assemblers and mandates that by 2030, at least 30 percent of all EV components must be sourced locally. It also compels investors to establish assembly plants within three years of commencing operations in the country.
From a legal standpoint, this provision seeks to operationalise Section 16 of the Nigerian Constitution, which directs the State to control the national economy in a manner that secures the maximum welfare of citizens, and to ensure that material resources are harnessed for the common good. By linking industrial policy to environmental outcomes, the Bill aligns industrial development with constitutional directives on environmental protection under Section 20.
However, the enforceability of localisation requirements raises important questions under trade and investment law. Nigeria must ensure that such obligations comply with its commitments under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) and its bilateral investment treaties, which prohibit performance requirements that distort trade. The legislation may therefore need to articulate its local-content obligations as performance-based criteria (such as technology transfer or capacity development) rather than strict numerical quotas tied to origin of components.
4. Environmental and Energy Governance Dimensions
The Bill’s environmental ambition extends beyond industrial production. It mandates that every fuel station in Nigeria install EV charging points within a prescribed timeframe. This represents a substantial intersection of environmental, energy, and regulatory law.
In practice, however, this clause implicates multiple statutory frameworks. The Electric Power Sector Reform Act, the Nigerian Electricity Act 2023, and the various state electricity laws (following market decentralisation) all confer specific licensing powers. Similarly, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) Act 2007 and the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) Act regulate environmental and safety standards. For the Bill to be operational, it must therefore establish a coordinating mechanism that harmonises these mandates and prevents regulatory overlap.
A pragmatic approach would be to create a Coordination Council, legally mandated to integrate policy, licensing, and enforcement across these agencies. Such a council could also maintain a public data platform for real-time monitoring of charging infrastructure, emissions reduction, and compliance levels, an approach consistent with COP30’s emphasis on transparency and data-driven accountability.
5. Fiscal and Incentive Provisions
Nigeria’s fiscal regime has recently undergone reform through the Nigeria Tax Act 2025, which becomes effective on 1 January 2026. This statute introduces the Economic Development Incentive (EDI), a 5 percent annual tax credit on qualifying capital expenditure for enterprises operating in designated priority sectors, including battery and accumulator manufacturing. The Act also zero-rates electric vehicles and their components for value-added tax purposes.
When read together, the EV Bill, the new Tax Act, and the 2023 National Automotive Industry Development Plan form a tripartite legal framework for climate-aligned industrialisation. The Plan provides for 10-year tax holidays for EV assemblers, accelerated capital allowances, and reduced import duties on components, subject to production thresholds. These fiscal measures demonstrate the Federal Government’s intent to make the EV ecosystem a centrepiece of its economic diversification and energy-transition strategy.
Nevertheless, legal coherence requires that these instruments be consolidated through a single implementing regulation to prevent conflicting interpretations and regulatory discretion.
6. Sanctions, Due Process, and Proportionality
Perhaps the most debated provision of the Bill is its penalty clause, which imposes a ₦500 million fine per shipment on unlicensed importers of EVs. Although deterrence is an essential component of regulatory law, sanctions must satisfy the principle of proportionality, which requires a rational connection between the offence and the penalty imposed.
To ensure constitutionality under Section 36(12) of the Constitution, offences and penalties must be clearly defined, and affected persons must have access to administrative and judicial remedies. The Bill should therefore provide for tiered sanctions, distinguishing between deliberate non-compliance and technical or first-time breaches. It should also establish an independent Electric Mobility Appeals Tribunal to hear challenges against licensing decisions and penalties, thereby safeguarding procedural fairness and promoting regulatory credibility.
7. Institutional and Transparency Considerations
Effective implementation will depend on institutional synergy. The Bill currently contemplates roles for the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), NESREA, SON, and other agencies. Without clear delineation of powers, administrative fragmentation could replicate the inefficiencies that have historically undermined Nigeria’s environmental enforcement.
A modern legislative design should therefore codify mechanisms for joint rule-making, data sharing, and performance reporting among agencies. These structures should also incorporate transparency requirements, such as a public registry of licensed operators, fiscal beneficiaries, and enforcement actions. This would align Nigeria’s domestic obligations with its commitments under the Paris Agreement and with the disclosure expectations being discussed at COP30 regarding climate finance and sectoral emissions data.
8. Comparative Perspectives
The emerging jurisprudence on EV regulation in Africa reveals divergent models. Rwanda and Kenya have pursued incentive-driven approaches, relying heavily on fiscal relief and consumer subsidies to stimulate adoption. Nigeria’s approach, in contrast, seeks to legislate industrial participation and compliance.
From a comparative law standpoint, neither model is inherently superior. However, Nigeria’s approach will succeed only if enforcement remains predictable and the regulatory environment remains stable. Otherwise, excessive state control could discourage investment and frustrate the very innovation the law seeks to promote.
9. Conclusion: Law as the Infrastructure of Transition
Nigeria’s Electric Vehicle Transition and Green Mobility Bill marks an ambitious attempt to institutionalise the principles of COP30 within domestic law. It merges environmental protection with economic revitalisation, transforming climate ambition into legal obligation. Yet, ambition alone will not suffice.
The sustainability of the framework will depend on three factors: coherence, proportionality, and transparency. Coherence demands integration among multiple regulatory regimes; proportionality ensures fairness in the balance between deterrence and opportunity; transparency anchors public trust and investor confidence.
If refined along these lines, the Bill could become a model of legislated transition, a rare instance where environmental governance, industrial law, and fiscal policy converge in a single statute. It would also affirm Nigeria’s role in the global south as a jurisdiction capable of crafting climate legislation that is not derivative of foreign models but grounded in its own constitutional and developmental context.
In this sense, COP30 offers Nigeria not only a global stage but a legal challenge: to prove that the path to sustainable mobility in Africa can be paved not merely with policy promises, but with law as the enduring infrastructure of transition.
