Private sector partnership key to ending energy poverty – FG
From left: Mr Jerry Ajeh, Chief Technology Officer, Mojec Group, Chantelle Abdul, GCEO, Vsolaris, Dr Abba Abubakar Aliyu, Managing Director, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mrs Mojisola Abdul, Chairman, Mojec Group and Ayodeji Oladeji, General Manager, Vsolaris, during Aliyu’s visit to the Vsolaris office and factory in Lagos recently.
…Over 1.1m households electrified via NEP
Orisemeke Benjamin
The Federal Government through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has underscored the critical role the partnership with the private sector plays in achieving Nigeria’s ambitious off-grid energy targets and ending energy poverty.
During a high-level inspection of Vsolaris facilities in Lagos recently, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Dr Abba Abubakar Aliyu emphasized that while public funds serve as a catalyst, the long-term sustainability of Nigeria’s power sector rests on credible private developers who are willing to invest their own resources.
He noted that public funds are intentionally deployed as catalytic grants to ensure that the private sector maintains skin in the game which he believes is the only way to guarantee true accountability and the survival of these projects over time.
The visit also served as a platform for the REA to highlight its decentralized electrification strategy, which relies on partnering with firms capable of managing local assembly and high-efficiency project execution.
The REA MD also reiterated the agency’s primary mandate of delivering power to millions of Nigerians currently without grid access.
Hr notwd that the mandate is being significantly accelerated through these types of strategic collaborations.
He further explained that the success of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) is already visible through the electrification of 1.1 million households across more than 200 minigrids and the delivery of hybrid power solutions to 15 federal institutions.
Building on these achievements, Aliyu also revealed that the agency has also received a $750 million funding in 2024 through the World Bank funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project.
This capital is specifically intended to act as a springboard to attract an estimated $1.1 billion in additional private-sector investment, with the ultimate goal of providing electricity access to roughly 17.5 million Nigerians through 1,350 new minigrids.
In her remarks, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Vsolaris, Chantelle Abdul disclosed that Vsolaris has built a portfolio of 101 minigrid sites spread across 34 local government areas in nine states, with a planned generation capacity of 64 megawatts (MW).
According to Abdul, the partnership with the REA is a convergence of sound public policy and proven private-sector capability, focused on delivering reliable electricity that supports livelihoods, improves healthcare and education, and reduces reliance on diesel in rural and peri-urban communities.
The REA MD’s inspection of Vsolaris, a company with a 64-megawatt portfolio and 99% collection efficiency validated this model of aligning sound public policy with proven private-sector technical capability to replace costly diesel dependence with reliable renewable energy.
