The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with five federation government agencies and nine renewable energy service companies for the generation of about 1,000 megawatts of electricity through solar systems.
The agreements were signed with the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police Trust Fund, National Agricultural Development Fund, the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria, and nine renewable energy service companies.
The Managing Director/CEO of REA, Mr Abba Aliyu, said the deals would help to address key electricity challenges in the country while providing a seed capital from the $750 million World Bank loan, which is expected to attract $1.1 billion investments from the private sector.
Aliyu explained that with the decentralisation of the power sector and liberalisation of the entire value chain through the Electricity Act 2023, many players are now allowed to operate within the electricity value chain.
“In total, before this event, we have signed five MoUs and today we have signed with the RESCOS nine MoUs. Not only that; we also signed with what we call vertically integrated RESCOS and we are also working towards crystallising investment into Nigeria.
“This $750m is supposed to catalyze $1.1 billion private sector investment. What we are doing here is to catalyse that $1.1bn while the $750m will be used as a capital subsidy to encourage the private sector to put in their $1.1bn towards providing this electricity infrastructure in the country,” he explained.
He said the Nigerian Electrification Project and the Distributed Access Rural Renewable Energy Schedule Programme are designed to electrify 17.5 million Nigerians.
On his part, Executive Secretary of Nigerian Police Trust Fund (NPTF), Mohammed Sheidu, noted that the agreement would enable the fund to provide solar systems at police stations across the country and also to police academies.
On her part, the Comptroller General of NIS, Kemi Nana Nandap, said: “The project we are embarking on with REA comes at a critical time. At the Nigerian Immigration Service, we are deploying technology to manage our borders.”
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