The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) said it has provided 52 megawatts of electricity to five million Nigerians through 1,022 connections funded with a $550 million (N241.8 billion) grant from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The Managing Director of REA, Salihijo Ahmad Salihijo, stated this at the weekend at a briefing on the implementation level of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) of the agency.
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He said, “Electricity has been provided for 5m Nigerians through 1.022 connections with at least 52MW of renewable electricity generated in the off-grid sphere across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).”
The NEP has five components comprising $213m for solar hybrid mini grid project, $75m for standalone Solar Home Systems (SHS), $250m for the Energising Education Programme (EEP) for 15 universities and two teaching hospitals. The two others are $20m for Energy Efficient Equipment to fund appliances that can generate funds like pop-corn making machines; and $37m for technical assistance and capacity building.
Analysis of this shows it has deployed 995,396 Solar Home System (SHS), 67 mini grid projects, 26 container solar energy pack for hospitals,
While REA said it received 569 applications from solar power developers, it signed the grant agreement with 267 developers, and seven others for the energizing education power contract projects in seven universities and a teaching hospital.
Overall, Salihijo said the implementation of the NEP has created 1,151 jobs so far and saved 249,193 tons of carbon dioxide
Ms Anita Otubu who headed the programme before leaving the agency in October, said while the World Bank provided $350m, AfDB provided $200m.
Otubu said for every connection to the mini grid component, contractors get a naira equivalent of $600m which is 60 per cent grant to cover for their project cost as a means of boosting electricity access especially with renewable energy.
Out of the $550m NEP fund, REA has disbursed $64.8m to contractors with over $300m commitment made for procurement of equipment for the contractors.
