Hope Rises for Students, Lecturers as FG Lights Up Varsities Under $750m Minigrid

Peter Uzoho

No less than 50,000 lecturers and 150,000 students, in addition to many other residents in several federal government-owned universities across Nigeria would heave a sigh of relief from July when another set of completed and nearly-completed solar minigrid projects carried out by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) would be inaugurated.

Acting Managing Director of REA, Mr. Abba Aliyu, announced yesterday that the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, would begin inauguration of the new set of completed projects any time from next two to three months.

Aliyu spoke in Lagos at a press conference organised by the Alliance for Rural Electrification (ARE), which heralded the kick off of the Energy Access Investment Forum (EAIF) 2024.

He listed the projects executed  under the $750 million World Bank financing with a total capacity of 12 megawatts (MW) in collaboration with project developers as the University of Maiduguri, University of Abuja, Federal University in Yobe State, Federal University Calabar with the teaching hospital, and the Nigerian Defence Academy.

Others, according to him, were the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, and the Federal University Umudike in Abia State.

Aliyu stated that, “In the next two months, we are going to start commissioning of very high impact projects across the country and these are the interventions that REA has done at the universities, one of the biggest intervention in West Africa, and this is something that many people are not very much aware of. 

“One of the biggest projects ever done in this country is the project in the University of Maiduguri, powering the entire university, the only teaching hospital in the entire geopolitical zone and also providing electricity to the Water Treatment plant in the state and the entire Maiduguri metropolis.

“This is a 12-megawatts project that is almost completed. So, we are going to commission the University of Maiduguri, we are going to commission the University of Abuja, Federal University in Yobe State, Federal University Calabar plus the teaching hospital, and the Nigerian Defence Academy.

“The Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, and also Federal University Umudike in Abia State. So, these are projects the minister will start commissioning in the next two to three months.”

To show the proactiveness of the federal ministry of power, the REA boss said as the completed projected were being inaugurated, they had already started another round of the REA projects.