FG Seeks States' Collaboration To Improve Rural Electricity Access

Honourable Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, OFR, Managing Director of REA, Engr. Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad with states participants 

The Federal Government has said that collaboration with states is key to the implementation of programmes geared towards improving rural electricity supply in the country. 

The Honourable Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy-Agba, OFR, stated this while speaking in a workshop organized by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) themed : Collaboration with States For Accelerating Rural Electrification. 

The Minister who said that despite the challenges, the country's efforts to provide  unserved and underserved communities with clean and reliable electricity was yielding positive results, contrary to claims that Nigeria tops countries with poorest electricity access. 

He emphasized that  the government was investing heavily in the off-grid sector to complement what the national grid is currently providing.  

He charged participants in the workshop to grasp the opportunity to learn about REA programmes and how their respective states can benefit from federal government initiatives geared at providing clean, sustainable and efficient electricity for rural communities. 

According to him, "in order to grow economy, stable electricity is a key factor. Recent events have shown the need to focus on deploying more off-grid solutions to complement the efforts of the Federal Government in ensuring that there's a reliable supply of electricity nationwide. To have nationwide access to electricity, we have to focus on both enhancing the national grid and the off-grid solutions. 

This workshop showcases our goal of building a good relationship between the Federal Government and all states, I enjoin the REA and State Governments to go further and jointly design programmes that will boost the social and economic  lives of people in rural communities ". 

Earlier, the Managing Director of REA, Engr. Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad said that "this Stakeholder’s workshop was borne out of the need for REA to effectively deliver its mandate to every community that deserves electricity across the country.  We understand the key position of the State Governments and the various Local Governments and Rural Electrification boards within them and realized the need for proper coordination amongst the key stakeholders, to ensure we are able to deliver on our mandate.    

 

During the meeting with Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum last year, it was agreed that the States would nominate focal persons that would work closely with the REA, to understand the programmes under the agency and discuss the potential for collaboration, as part of our goal to ensure significant presence in all 36 States in the country".  

 

Ahmad added that "we understand that the success of our attempt to increase energy access is linked to the support from the States, which can be done through their respective rural electrification boards and the focal persons nominated by the Executive Governors of the different 

States".