The new acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, has said that the focus of the Energizing Education Programme phase 11, is on tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

He stated this, at the weekend, in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

Aliyu, spoke as part of a high-powered delegation, drawn from the REA, World Bank and NEP, that rounded off project  site visits to the University of Maiduguri and its medical college arm, the University Teaching Hospital, Maiduguri.

He said, “one of our interventions is to provide electricity to tertiary institutions. “We have completed the first phase and are finalizing the second phase and have started the third phase”.

The second phase, funded by the World Bank, considered as  the largest project, is aimed at providing 12kW, and would benefit no fewer than  350,000 people, including over 50,000 staff and non-academic staff, across Nigeria. Same phase 2 project, houses 7 universities and a Teaching Hospital , is nearing completion.

The visit is specifically to inspect the project and inform the state government about this intervention and plans for commissioning the project.

According to Abba Abubakar Aliyu, the World Bank’s support in the EEP PHASE 11,  project, has been crucial in making it a reality, stressing that  the confidence reposed on the REA’s implementation, has encouraged World Bank towards providing an additional $750 million for the roll-out of what is called Distributed Access to Renewable Energy Scale-Up (DARES).

In his own remarks, a major key player in the renewable energy blockchain, Olufemi Akinyelure, who is the Head of the Nigeria Electrification Project, said, ” Our mission is to create a sustainable future for Nigeria’s educational institutions. The EEP Phase II underscores our dedication to leveraging renewable energy solutions to drive academic excellence and gender inclusion in the STEM fields.”

For the Executive Director, Technical Services, Rural Electrification Agency, Alh. Umar Abdullahi Umar, ” this event could not have come at a better time than now, given the myriad of energy challenges, which Federal Government owned educational institutions, in Nigeria, are confronted with.”

He advised that beneficiary institutions of the EEP phase 11 projects, like similar ones, must protect such critical national assets, to ensure their hardware and software longevity and usage”.

From: Enyi Ejike-Umunnabuike Jr, Maiduguri, Borno State