Nigeria’s electricity regulatory commission, NERC, announced Tuesday that it has issued electricity generation and distribution licenses to Ariaria Market in Abia state. NERC in a statement said that it has granted a 9.5 megawatts (MW) embedded electricity generation license to Ariaria Market IPP Ltd and an independent electricity distribution license to distribute same within Ariaria Market to Ariaria Independent Energy Distribution Network Ltd. The commission said it was responding to the long-time yearnings of the market for a stable, reliable and sustainable electricity supply to improve quality of goods and services by Nigerian enterprises and entrepreneurs, as the new licenses would promote access to common goods and increase commercialization and industrialization of Ariaria. The market nicknamed “China of Africa” is one of the largest markets in Africa and is a leading shoe making market in West Africa.