Dr. Abba Aliyu, Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), recently discussed the agency’s major achievement in mapping 750,000 communities across Nigeria. He emphasized that electricity acts as the primary foundation for economic growth, especially as the world transitions toward an AI-driven future. Aliyu noted that electricity is essential to powering the infrastructure that supports AI and modern technological development.
Under the current government, the REA is shifting its focus from funding general consumption toward supporting productive use. By providing capital grants to de-risk private sector investments, the agency aims to reduce costs for businesses, particularly within agricultural clusters. A notable example is the Namu community in Plateau State, where the REA replaced diesel-powered rice processing with a 50-kilowatt solar mini-grid, and now intends to scale that to 5 megawatts to support local industrial activity.
The agency’s roadmap is supported by comprehensive data gathered from the nationwide mapping project. This data allows the REA to determine the most cost-effective electrification methods—ranging from solar home systems to grid extensions—for every specific community. Furthermore, recent regulatory updates have allowed the REA to facilitate larger mini-grid deployments, raising capacity limits to 5 megawatts for isolated systems and 10 megawatts for interconnected ones.
To ensure long-term viability, the REA works closely with state governments through its State-by-State Roundtable initiative and utilizes Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs) to manage infrastructure. These projects leverage Result-Based Financing to guarantee sustainability, resulting in a 97% collection rate among users. Finally, Aliyu highlighted plans to turn Nigeria into a regional renewable energy manufacturing hub, with the agency supporting the development of over 3.7 gigawatts of local production capacity for solar components.