REA Managing Director/CEO, Abba Aliyu, and Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited Managing Director, John Zhao, during the signing of a Joint Development Agreement in Abuja on Tuesday. Credit: Solomon Odeniyi
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Abba Aliyu, has disclosed that more than 85 million Nigerians, representing about 40 per cent of the country’s population, still lack reliable access to electricity from the national grid.
Aliyu also expressed concern over Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported renewable energy equipment despite the country’s abundant solar resources.
He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja during the signing of a Joint Development Agreement between the REA and Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited for the establishment of a solar panel and battery assembly and manufacturing facility in Nigeria.
The REA chief executive described the agreement as a significant milestone in the country’s renewable energy sector, noting that it marked the first commitment by a Tier-1 Chinese renewable energy company to establish manufacturing and assembly operations in Nigeria.
He said that although the agency had connected millions of previously underserved Nigerians through programmes such as the Rural Electrification Fund, the Nigerian Electrification Project and the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Project, the challenge of inadequate electricity access remained substantial.
“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,” Aliyu said.
Highlighting the country’s reliance on imported solar technology, he said most solar installations in Nigeria depend on components produced outside the country.
“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,” he said.
Aliyu noted that while Nigeria provides the market and demand for renewable energy solutions, much of the technology and equipment used are sourced internationally.
He said continued reliance on imports has resulted in lost opportunities for job creation, technical development and foreign exchange retention.
“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.
Under the agreement, the REA, through its renewable asset management subsidiary, will support the annual offtake of up to 200 megawatts of solar photovoltaic modules and 200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems manufactured and assembled locally by Ecotech.
Aliyu explained that the arrangement is a non-exclusive framework aimed at encouraging domestic manufacturing and will not replace existing public procurement procedures.
“This agreement is not a procurement mandate. Every transaction will still comply with our procurement rules and be judged on price, quality and reliability. We are not lowering the bar; we are widening who gets a fair opportunity to meet it,” he said.
