Adebayo Adelabu, Minister of Power, said this on Thursday, expatiating that the NEP seeks to bridge the energy access deficit by providing electricity to households, MSMEs, and educational and healthcare facilities in unserved and underserved rural communities.

Adelabu shared this update on X (formerly known as Twitter), underscoring the fruitful outcome of a productive Bilateral Cooperation meeting held during the ongoing “Just Energy Transition and Agricultural Transformation for Africa” conference in Busan, South Korea.

This gathering presided over by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, AfDB President, brought together key stakeholders to discuss pivotal energy and agricultural transformations for the African continent.

The Minister tweeted, “This initiative aims to establish operational capacity across the entire value chain, facilitating project prioritization. AfDB also confirmed readiness to disburse a previously approved $ 250 million fund for the Nigeria Electrification Project under the Rural Electrification Agency and extended support to Northern Nigerian states through the $ 20 billion 10,000MW Northern Africa Desert to Power fund.”

Over 600,000 people, approximately 100,000 households, 70,000 MSMEs, and eight universities will receive new or improved access to electricity services as a result of the project.

The NEP project is expected to bring new or enhanced access to electricity services to over 600,000 people, including approximately 100,000 households, 70,000 MSMEs, and eight universities.

It will also create an enabling environment for private sector involvement, with a particular focus on advancing opportunities for women through various integrated activities such as the collection of sex-disaggregated data and gender-targeted marketing.

Meanwhile, the Energy Progress Report 2022, released by Tracking SDG 7, revealed that Nigeria has the lowest access to electricity globally, with approximately 92 million out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power.

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The Nigerian government has also partnered with the UK-Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF), GIZ’s Nigeria Energy Support Programme (NESP), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide technical expertise to help the government address the issues surrounding the country’s power supply, according to Anitu Otubu, Head of the Project Management Unit at NEP.

She said the project is being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), a government agency under the Federal Ministry of Power.

“The REA was established to help bridge the energy access gap in the country between the underserved and unserved, with special emphasis on the last-mile areas.

She claims that the government is pursuing off-grid renewable energy alternatives through the REA, including captive solar hybrid power plants, isolated and connected mini-grids, and solar household systems.

“It takes a lot of money to achieve universal access to power, so we work with private sector players who are able to secure financing to increase energy access. Private sector players, though maybe passionate about socio-economic empowerment for the unserved, are also profit-driven.