Goddy Jedy-Agba, Nigeria’s minister of state for power has called for reforms in the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), urging the Federal Government to support the agency because of its enormous potential.
According to the minister, the electrification agency has performed well, having impacted several rural communities in all six geo-political zones.
Jedy-Agba, who expressed confidence in the competence of Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, managing director/CEO, REA, urged him to remain focused on the assignment at hand because it will positively impact the country.
“For us to move forward in a sector as critical as this, we need reforms, and that is what this agency has been doing,” he said.
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The minister further charged the Federal Government to encourage REA’s works and treat it as a star agency with enormous potential.
“I want to assure you that in all the six geopolitical zones of this country, we have had two projects in each state,” Jedy-Agba said.
“There is no community in any of the geo-political zones where we do not have a rural solar light intervention. We have had solar panels and mini-grids in all the zones.”
Regarding impact, REA is implementing the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), one of the biggest electrification projects in sub-Saharan Africa, with funding from the World Bank and the African Development Bank. So far, over five million Nigerians are benefiting from this programme.
As part of efforts to catalyse off-grid electrification, the agency, in the last three years, completed the first Rural Electrification Fund (REF) call, delivering 12 solar hybrid mini-grids and over 19,000 solar home systems. For the second REF call, projects are ongoing to deliver a total of 51 additional solar hybrid mini-grids.
Through its energising education programme, the REA has delivered solar hybrid power plants in seven universities under the first phase of the programme.
