By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has said the country requires as much as $10 billion to deliver more energy connections across rural communities.
REA’s Executive Director of Technical Services, Barka Sajou, disclosed this on Tuesday during the agency’s event at the Nigerian pavilion on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt.
Sajou noted that COP27 is an opportunity his agency has taken advantage of to show the work it has been doing within its off-grid space.
“Of course, there is a need to do more. The financing required is what we have been able to present. As it stands, we need about $10 billion for us to be able to deliver more connections.
“We have been able to do about 2.25 million connections which translates to almost 10 million Nigerians that have been affected directly by the work we do,” he said.
At COP 27, Sajou said his agency has a line-up of opportunities worth about $10 billion to deliver over five million connections.
“We are looking for collaborations with finances, partners and donors to be able to develop these projects and deliver them,” Sajou added.
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari was represented at the event by the Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, had said the country must shy away from public funding to avert energy poverty.
He said the rural electrification project is key to Nigeria’s net zero emission targets and that the only way to achieve the targets is to ensure additional funding for the agency.
“We must begin to shy away from public funding. We are discussing with our partners, the IMF, to see how they can structure the next sovereign green bond to have a model where the private sector will be involved,” the minister said.
The minister further explained that for sustainable energy to be achieved in rural communities, the dwellers must be carried along. Doing so, he said, would ensure that the private sector and the communities are involved in tariff determination and to also ensure that there is sustainability.
“Regrettably, we found that in some communities where REA had deployed some mini-grids, there are challenges in terms of sustenance and maintenance,” he added.
The minister added that he believes that if the private sector is involved, the challenges would be addressed, as they are going to be involved directly in running the mini-grids.
