March 26, 2024

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Malam Abba Aliyu says over 85 million Nigerians  are without electricity, and most of them reside in the areas where it will be very expensive to extend the national grid to.

The REA boss said this when he received the Director-General of VON, Malam-Jibrin Baba Ndace, and his management team on a courtesy visit on Tuesday in Abuja.

“I want to take your offer and to tell you that I am an ‘Oliver Twist’. I will take the offer and ask for more till we deliver on our mandate. I greatly appreciate your offer,” he said.

According to the REA boss, the issue of electricity is one of the most challenging in the country.

“This is because they live in communities that are sparsely populated, or in rural areas where economic activities are not viable and significant.

“So, moving or extending the grid to these areas may not be economically viable.

“Therefore, the best alternative is by providing them with distributed generation resource around these communities.

“That is what REA has been doing to deliver on its mandate; we provide mini-grid to particular communities, solar home system to areas where mini-grid are not viable and also grid extension to where it is needed.”

He disclosed that the agency also partnered with international organisations, adding that the World Bank Group recently approved addition $750 million for REA’s intervention through a programme called ‘Distribution Access through Renewable Energy Scale Up.

“The World Bank Group could not have approved such funding without a track record.

“Before then, we implemented so many projects funded by African Development Bank and World Bank, and because of that success, we got this additional funding.”

Speaking earlier, the VON MD, Ndace said, for the country to move forward, stakeholders must work collectively, adding that as a public sector concern, VON was there to help amplify what others were doing.

“As public sector concern, we are here to amplify what you do, because we are in the age of noise, misinformation, disinformation and fake news.

“It is time for institutions to be deliberate and intentional in telling their own stories and there is no better place to do that and amplify them than in VON.

Aliyu thanked the management of VON for the offering its platform to the Agency to showcase and narrate its positive impact to communities across the country., adding that he could not think of any platform that had given REA such kind of opportunity to leverage on.