The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has announced that it has disbursed over N28.7 billion to complete electrification projects across the country out of the N31.7 billion allocated in the 2023 budget.
The Managing Director of the REA, Mr. Abba Aliyu, made the announcement on Monday in Abuja while releasing the agency’s report on the implementation of capital projects for 2023.
Mr. Aliyu said the authority has completed projects worth over N28.7 billion, while another project worth N3.3 billion is in progress and is expected to be completed within the next two months.
He stressed that N6.3 billion was spent to connect communities to the national grid, with emphasis placed on grid expansion and deployment of transformers.
Aliyu said the REA had spent N131 million on the implementation of residential solar power systems in the six geopolitical zones, N227 million on advisory services and N446 million on mini-grids for the electrification of electric vehicles. He also said the authority had invested 626 million naira in improving the use of electric vehicles and the implementation of mini-grids to power agricultural clusters, and 499 million naira in solar-powered street lights to improve safety in problem areas.
Aliyu noted that REA had spent 2.02 billion naira to provide solar-powered irrigation pumps to thousands of farmers across the country to improve agricultural activities.
He stressed that the agency’s projects cover all six geopolitical zones, 36 states and the FCT, leaving no state unnoticed.
REA Managing Director, Technical Services, Umar Abdullahi, said REA would continue its efforts to improve socio-economic activities in beneficiary communities, optimizing the use of solar-powered irrigation pumps, residential solar power systems and solar-powered street lights.
He highlighted that the mini-grid technology has provided sustainable energy capacity of over 330 kilowatts (kWp) of peak power, benefiting over 1.4 million previously unserved and underserved people in Nigeria.
