The Bauchi State government has sought partnership with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to establish more source of power generation to rural communities across the state.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the CEO of REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammad, said the energy deficit in the state is so huge, despite having a potentially industrious areas in the part of the country.
The governor noted that electricity is needed in the state to harness the presence of huge solid minerals that have gotten the attention of some investors coming from all over the world to develop the state.
“We are really one of the busiest now since we don’t go to farm. And without little hindrance, we are really trying to bolster possibility of our peasant farmers doing their best, exploit their potentials. And you know, as we said, without power, you cannot do anything. The SMEs we have established are looking for power. The cities, our metropolitan cities are looking for power. Even our utilities like water board, the hospitals, the schools, we have them in a cluster.
He explained that the state officials came to the agency not as empty beggars clapping hands because of the grant, but they are also ready to make contributions so that at the end of the day, it is going to be very collaborative venture.
He said the state is interested in generating power and it is exploring financing models that can materialise into large power infrastructure.
On his part, Aliyu said the agency has observed how providing electricity can address a lot of challenges, the nexus between electricity and quality education, healthcare education and socio-economic improvement in communities.
He saod it just completed the implementation of $550 million World Bank and African Development Bank project called the Niger Electrification Project and based on the success of that project, the World Bank provided it with additional funding of $750 million and that project is about to start.
The projects that we implement are normally private sector driven, which means that a project that the private sector will come to us and get grant and subsidy based on performance. And it means also that the private sector will go to states or communities that provide incentives.”
He explained that it research indicated that Bauchi local government alone has 90 mini-grid sites that can be used to power close to 800,000 individuals and 335,000 people can be powered by a mini-grid in Toro local government.
“We also identified 18 villages with over 1,000 connections for mini-grid development in that state. On average, we realized that a village in Bauchi has a potential of about 270 connections. This high density of connections make the village in the state very attractive for investment.”
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