1.4m Nigerians connected to electricity in 2023 – REA

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has stated that 1.4m Nigerians who are off the grid were provided with electricity through renewable energy in 2023.

The Managing Director of REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, who made the disclosure yesterday during a presentation of its 2023 Capital Project Implementation Report stated yesterday stated that milestone was reached using a mix of the traditional grid extension projects, solar mini-grid systems, solar home systems, solar street lights as well as solar-powered EV charging stations.

He stated that the agency in 2023 provided 330kilowatt power through 15 mini grids that powered over 30 homes.

He added that the agency provided more than 18,300 streetlights to illuminate communities, businesses and military barracks.

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While stating that the agency just completed a $550m funding from development partners under the Nigeria Electrification Funding, he said it has secured another $750m funds to start the implementation of the DES project.

He explained that the project is “The biggest public sector funded project in the off grid in the world. The target of the project is to identify 17.5m Nigerians out of the 85m that do not have electricity access to give them power.”

“We are very clear on how we are going to do that, 3 million Nigerians will be identified using the isolated mini-grids, 1.5 million Nigerians with interconnected mini-grids and about 12.5 million Nigerians with both a mesh grid and solar homes system.”

He stated that the report is a project delivery report that maps out the progress and achievements of the agency’s electrification interventions through the capital project appropriation for the year 2023.

This report therefore highlights the broad-based, inclusive efforts of the federal government’s energy access efforts vis a vis the sector-specific resources the REA continues to optimize for socio-economic development.”