The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, says more than 85 million Nigerians, about 40 per cent of the country’s population, still lack reliable access to grid electricity.
Aliyu also expressed concern over Nigeria’s continued reliance on imported renewable energy equipment despite its vast solar energy potential.
He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja during the signing of a Joint Development Agreement between the agency and Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited for the establishment of a solar panel and battery assembly and manufacturing facility in the country.
Aliyu described the agreement as a significant milestone in Nigeria’s renewable energy transition, noting that it marks the first commitment by a Tier-1 Chinese renewable energy company to establish solar panel and battery assembly and manufacturing operations in the country.
He said that while the Rural Electrification Agency had expanded electricity access to millions of underserved Nigerians through initiatives such as the Rural Electrification Fund, the Nigerian Electrification Project and the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Project, inadequate access to reliable grid electricity remained a major challenge.
“Over 85 million Nigerians, close to 40 per cent of our population, still lack reliable access to grid electricity. REA exists to close that gap,” he said.
Speaking on Nigeria’s reliance on imported renewable energy equipment, Aliyu said virtually all solar installations in the country depend on components manufactured abroad.
He said, “Every electrified community across Nigeria today tells the same quiet story. The panel on the rooftop was engineered abroad. The battery beneath it was assembled abroad. The inverter that ties it together was also manufactured outside the country.
“Nigeria supplied the roof, the need and the market, while someone else supplied the technology and equipment.”
Aliyu said Nigeria’s heavy reliance on imported solar equipment has resulted in lost employment opportunities, hindered the growth of local technical expertise and increased the outflow of foreign exchange that could have been retained within the country.
“Every dollar we spend importing solar modules is a dollar that could have been paid to Nigerian technicians or invested in Nigerian factories. We have been financing someone else’s industrial growth with our own electrification budget,” he added.
Aliyu said the agreement provides for the REA, through its renewable asset management subsidiary, to facilitate the annual offtake of up to 200 megawatts of locally manufactured and assembled solar photovoltaic modules and 200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems produced by Ecotech in Nigeria.
He said the agreement provides for the REA, through its renewable asset management subsidiary, to facilitate the annual offtake of up to 200 megawatts of locally manufactured and assembled solar photovoltaic modules and 200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems produced by Ecotech in Nigeria.
He, however, stressed that the arrangement is a non-exclusive framework aimed at promoting local manufacturing and does not supersede existing public procurement laws or regulations.
