By Abdullahi Lukman
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has called for stronger coordination among government agencies, state governments, development partners, private operators and other stakeholders to accelerate electricity access across Nigeria.
REA Managing Director, Dr Abubakar Aliyu, made the call on Monday at the relaunch of the Off-Grid Stakeholder Coordination and Partnership Forum in Abuja.
Aliyu said better coordination was necessary to prevent duplication of electricity projects, maximise limited resources and ensure that interventions reached communities with the greatest need.
He disclosed that an analysis of the 2024 and 2025 Federal Government budgets using Artificial Intelligence showed that several government institutions were implementing power-related projects, including agencies not traditionally considered major players in the electricity sector.
“If we continue to work the way we currently do without bringing the states into this conversation and coordination, I can tell you that we will simply be planning to fail,” Aliyu said.
He added that the REA had identified instances where projects under different programmes were being implemented in the same locations. According to him, the situation had become more concerning as funding for the electricity sector continued to decline.
Aliyu therefore advocated a centralised data platform that would enable stakeholders to identify existing projects, avoid duplication and determine areas requiring new interventions.
The Minister of Power, Chief Joseph Tegbe, represented by his Chief of Staff, Doyin Adelabu, said fragmentation remained a major obstacle to efficient electricity delivery.
He announced that the Federal Government was establishing a standing Off-Grid Coordination Secretariat to track commitments and risks, organise issue-based working groups and provide shared market intelligence.
Tegbe urged development partners, financiers, private operators, state governments and civil society organisations to nominate focal points, share relevant data and participate in the working groups.
He said the Federal Ministry of Power would continue to provide policy direction through the National Electrification Strategy and Implementation Plan while supporting the development of state electricity markets under the Electricity Act.
The Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Fund, Doris Uboh-Ogunkoya, said coordination should become a continuous process rather than an activity limited to periodic meetings.
She said the proposed secretariat would help stakeholders identify gaps, resolve bottlenecks and monitor commitments between meetings.
Meanwhile, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Nigeria representative, Ikenna-Donald Ofoegbu, urged stakeholders to assess off-grid projects beyond the number of connections delivered.
He called for greater attention to productive use of electricity, innovative financing, sustainability and local capacity development, saying the sector needed to move from individual interventions towards coordinated and scalable programmes.
The Off-Grid Stakeholder Coordination and Partnership Forum, which began as a donor roundtable in April 2017, is being relaunched under a new coordination framework.
The Federal Government said more than 7.5 million Nigerians had gained electricity access through over 200 solar hybrid mini-grids and about 1.8 million solar home system connections.
It added that the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up programme is targeting an additional 17 million Nigerians and about 465 megawatts of renewable energy capacity, as Nigeria also contributes to the broader Mission 300 initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030.
