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REA signs $395m deal to boost rural electricity
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed 267 agreements worth about $395 million to provide electricity to unserved and underserved Nigerians under the Nigeria Electrification Projects.
The Managing Director of REA, Mr Salihijo Ahmad, told newsmen in Abuja that the Nigeria Electricity Programme was currently funded by a 350 million dollar World Bank loan and a 200 million dollar African Development Bank (AfDB) loan to provide electricity to Nigerian communities.
He said that about 64.8 million dollars of the commitments had been disbursed to private sector partners for the execution of the projects.
According to him, the programme is expected to provide off-grid reliable and clean electricity supply to 705,000 households, and 90,000 micro, small and medium enterprises.
It would also provide 100 isolation and treatment centres and 400 primary healthcare centres in unserved and underserved areas of the country.
Ahmad said that over the years, REA had moved from just being an implementer of Federal Government projects in the sector to a hub and an enabler of business in the sector.
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He said the agreements signed with private developers led to over a million connections across the country.
In his words, “the REA has the mandate of taking power to unserved and underserved Nigerians. How it goes about doing this depends on where the funding comes from.
“According to the rural electrification strategy plan, we have targets to reach Nigerians everywhere in the country and the numbers at the moment, are being quoted to be as high as 80 million people,” he said.
“To achieve this, a lot of funding is required and what we are used to doing is that every year we wait and get the government’s money from the budget, go to the site and then implement the projects.
“However, if you are to do this for the next 100 years, you will not be able to meet those targets hence it became important for the agency to ensure that its mandate does not end at implementation.”
Ahmad said that with the Rural Electrification Fund, which is private sector driven, REA became a hub and an enabler to ensure that funding comes from different areas to enable it to deliver on its mandate.
