Rural Electrification Agency on Thursday signed strategic Memoranda of Understanding with seven organisations across various sectors as part of efforts to bridge the gap between energy access and productive economic output.

The signatories included the Agricultural Agenda Nigeria Initiative, Federal Housing Authority Energy Distribution Limited, Meyana Energy Ltd, MOPO Nigeria Ltd, NG Electometer Ltd, Ubuntu Energy, and the Youth Sustainable Development Network LTD/GTE.

The signing of the MoUs was part of the highlights of the National Stakeholders Engagement Workshop hosted by the REA yesterday in Abuja, with stakeholders emphasising the importance of improved electricity access in driving productivity and achieving economic prosperity.

The workshop was hosted by REA in collaboration with Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) under the theme: “Unlocking and Scaling the Sustainable Adoption of Productive Use of Energy Technologies Across Nigeria: Harmonising Financing Opportunities and Policy Frameworks.”

Speaking at the workshop, Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, explained that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is shifting focus of electrification from mere infrastructure to tangible economic empowerment.

According to him, with the new focus, rural electrification is no longer about extending wires into communities, but about extending opportunity.

“It is about creating prosperity. It is about enabling enterprise. It is about transforming electricity from a social service into an economic catalyst,” Tegbe said.

He challenged stakeholders to rethink how success is measured within the power sector.

He said, “When we speak about electricity, we often measure success by megawatts generated, kilometres of distribution lines constructed, or the number of households connected. Those are important indicators. But they are not the ultimate objective. The true measure of success is what electricity enables.”

“Certain questions, amongst others, that reflect new, audacious, and creative thinking need to be asked and appropriately answered today. For example, can a farmer irrigate more land? Can a rice mill process more produce efficiently? Can a cold room preserve fish and vegetables? Can a cassava processor reduce waste? Can young entrepreneurs establish agro-processing businesses within their communities?” he said.

Tegbe further stressed that electricity by itself does not transform an economy, it becomes transformational only when it powers productivity.

This, he noted, is why the Productive Use of Energy (PUE) agenda sits at the critical intersection of energy, agriculture, industrialisation, financial inclusion, climate resilience, food security, rural development, and job creation.

Addressing the vital link between energy and agriculture, Tegbe lamented the high rate of post-harvest losses driven by energy deficits.

“Nigeria possesses one of Africa’s largest agricultural economies. Our farmers are industrious; our land is fertile; and our domestic market is vast. Yet far too much agricultural value is still lost between harvest and market due to challenges that transcend agricultural into energy challenges,” he said.

“We lose crops because there is insufficient cold storage. We lose income because processing capacity remains inadequate. We lose jobs because raw produce leaves our farms without value addition. We lose competitiveness because production costs remain unnecessarily high. We lose opportunities because energy-intensive productive equipment remains beyond the reach of many rural enterprises,” Tegbe said.

He noted that the PUE agenda seeks to solve these exact challenges, providing a compelling business case where energy-efficient equipment leads to lower operating costs, increased productivity, and higher incomes for farmers.

Managing Director, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Dr Abba Aliyu, called for improved synergy and collaboration between the agency, other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and development partners.

He noted that collaboration at the design stage, rather than during deployment, will optimise the use of funds and help develop replicable systems.

“Projects are managed by a project team. They are scoped, budgeted, delivered, and closed. Nigeria has had many such projects in the energy and agriculture space, some successful, some not, and the communities they were designed to serve have lived with the results of both. What we are trying to build today is something different: a system,” he said.

“Systems do not end when the funding cycle closes. They endure because the institutions that make them work have authority, political backing, and a coordination mechanism that holds them together over time. That is what this Alignment is designed to be, and that is what this workshop series is designed to produce,” Aliyu said.

Calling for sustained support and improved electricity connections, Aliyu noted that small-scale agriculture and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are not the marginal story of Nigeria’s food system, but the main story.

He said, “Our job, the job of every institution in this room, is to build the system that takes their individual, fragmented output and connects it into something the nation can count on.”

“This workshop is designed to bring every institution, every agency, and every private sector partner in this room together not to present to each other, but to look honestly at our collective strengths, agree on who is best placed to do what, and allocate roles with a single purpose of sustained impact the kind that continues when the funding ends because the system we build together is strong enough to carry it,” he said.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, described energy as a key driver of agricultural transformation and food security.

Kyari, who was represented by Engr. Maruf Ajenifuja, said reliable energy would enable farmers to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and improve value addition across agricultural value chains.

He noted that the federal government has begun the deployment of 2,000 tractors, more than 9,000 implements and assorted spare parts to improve productivity and reduce manual labour.

According to him, thousands of solar-powered irrigation pumps are also being deployed to support year-round farming.

Senior Advisor and Coordinator for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP), Elhadji Sylla, expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for its continued collaboration in boosting regional electrification.

He noted that electricity access must move beyond mere household use to active economic application.

He said: “Electricity is strategic in reducing poverty, but renewable energy, particularly solar energy, will serve as a key catalyst for accelerating universal access.”

“Through the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project, we aim to establish and leverage the off-grid solar market. We believe that energy must be put to work,” he said.