Federal Government Moves To Electrify Off-grid Communities

 

The Federal Government said efforts have been made to deliver electricity to about 25m Nigerians whose communities are off the grid. With the flag-off in Jigawa State, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo restated the government determination to ensure that millions of Nigerians have access to cheap and environmentally friendly renewable power.

Coming under the Economic Sustainability Plan, Prof Osinbajo said the launch of the Solar Power Naija programme was taking off with the Jangefe Community in Roni Local Government Area (in the Kazaure Emirate) of the State and will soon get to all geopolitical zones in the country.
After Jangefe, ” in keeping with the Vice President, the rollout will keep “across the 6 geopolitical zones in Edo, Lagos, Adamawa, Anambra, Kebbi and Plateau. Other Solar organizations are also in the pipeline for the Solar Power Naija facility to preserve the march to 5 million connections for the duration of the lifestyles of this administration,” the Vice President said.

According to Osinbajo, the scheme will then go to the whole 36 States and the FCT overlaying 25million Nigerians in the long run.

He said the commencement of the Solar Power Naija programme method the network will get 1,000 Solar Home Systems connections for its approximately five,000 population.

Specifically, the Vice President, flagged off the graduation of the set up in Jigawa, in what is said to be a part of a 100,000 scheme with A-SOLAR, a local sun power organisation imposing aspects of the ESP Solar Power Naija scheme.

The Jangefe network in Jigawa, that's the primary place to be included via the A-Solar business enterprise, can pay month-to-month electricity bills until the structures are fully paid for at the factor wherein there might be a switch of ownership to every purchaser inside the network.

The Vice President stated that the “President had emphasised that we should no longer rely completely on the grid if we were to electrify the entire country. Which supposed that we needed to develop an effective method for decentralizing the power deliver. Two obvious activities had been, first to think about implementing extra off-grid answers and to apply renewable strength particularly solar energy.”

Another venture grew to become possibility become Covid-19 and our reaction to the economic fallouts of the pandemic – the Economic Sustainability Plan. A essential purpose for the plan changed into to hold present jobs and create new jobs. A mass sun programme appeared like a real danger to kill several birds with one stone; electrify the u . S . And within the system, create heaps of jobs from solar assembly and manufacturing flora to installers, charge machine operators, and upkeep of solar systems as soon as set up.

“Mr. President, therefore, accredited the inclusion of what got here to be referred to as the Solar Power Naija programme inside the Economic Sustainability Plan which he requested me to chair.

The Solar Power Naija programme that is designed via the Rural Electrification Agency is an ambitious initiative that goals to create five million connections through a a hundred and forty billion Naira financing programme so that it will aid private developers to provide energy for 5 million families, which means imparting electricity for up to twenty-five million Nigerians.

Prof Osinbajo further said that the solar strength programme is a public-private zone partnership supported by concessionary lending via the Central Bank of Nigeria and business banks.