2023 Capital Appropriation: REA Gives Account, Says N31.7bn Spent on Projects Nationwide

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) yesterday disclosed that it spent N31.7 billion on capital projects in the 2023 implementation circle, involving 447 projects nationwide during the year under review.

Presenting the 2023 REA Capital Project Implementation Report in Abuja, Managing Director of the organisation, Abba Aliyu, described it as a ‘historic’ day for  transparency and accountability in the affairs of the agency.

He stated that it was the first time the REA was presenting the report, explaining that the move was to ensure that the Nigerian public get to know ‘how much of each single penny given to REA is being utilised’.

“And I’m happy to say that out of the total money given to REA in 2023 capital appropriation, a total sum of N227 million was used for consultancy and N446 million was utilised in deploying mini-grids for electric vehicles across the six different geopolitical zones in the country.

“Additionally, we have utilised N6.3 billion for grid extension. This will focus on extending the grid and deployment of transformers at the distribution level to connect communities within the country to the national grid. We have also spent about N131 million for the deployment of solar home systems across the country,” he added.

According to him, the intervention of REA in 2023 covered the entire country, explaining that there’s no single state within the country that is not covered with the REA projects under the 2023 capital implementation.

Besides, Aliyu stated that the organisation also spent N626 million for the deployment of different mini-grids across the country.

These mini-grids, he said, specifically focus on enhancing electric vehicle deployment, while others focus on energising agricultural clusters across the country.

“There’s also N499 million spent for the deployment of solar street lights across the country. These solar street lights were deployed in areas specifically that are facing security challenges.

“So we deployed these solar street lights to enhance security in those areas. Additionally, we spent N2.02 billion for the deployment of solar pumping irrigation pumps across the country.

“These pumps were deployed and given to farmers, over a thousand of them across the country, to enhance farming activities across the country. In total, out of the 2023 capital implementation, we have completed projects of over N28.7 billion. Out of the N31.7 billion allocated to REA, we still have about N3.3 billion projects that are ongoing which we hope to complete in the next two months,” Aliyu added.

Besides, he noted that the distribution of the REA projects covered the entire six geopolitical zones, the 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“The agency has reinforced its approach to monitoring and evaluation, an ongoing process which will be sustained till the full delivery of the over the 447 projects in the year under review,” he stressed.

Also, the Executive Director,  Technical Services, REA, Umar Abdullahi, stated that in delivering government’s mandate, the organisation was doubling down on socioeconomic impact of its interventions across all states of the federation.

“The 2023 Capital Projects Implementation Status Report provides a comprehensive overview of the journey so far in the delivery of multidimensional energy access infrastructure for the year  2023 through the guidance of the Federal Ministry of Power,” he added.

A snapshot of the projects showed that 67 projects had been completed in the North-west, six ongoing, while one is awaiting funding. In the North-central, 88 projects have been completed by the REA, two ongoing and two awaiting funding.

In the South-south, 75 projects have been completed, four are ongoing while one is awaiting funding. In the same vein, the South-west has 44 completed projects, three ongoing and one not yet funded.

Also, there are 80 completed projects in the North-east, five are ongoing, while one is currently awaiting funding. In the South-east, 44 projects have been completed, three are omg, while one is awaiting funding.

In all, the REA stated that it had completed 93.5 per cent of all projects for the period under reference, while 4.5 per cent of the projects are ongoing and 2.0 per cent is awaiting funding.

Besides, the REA stated that more than 1.4 million Nigerians were impacted through the implementation of the 2023 capital projects circle.

“The REA is strengthening its community engagement mechanism, leveraging the community-led Rural Electricity Users Cooperative Society (REUCS) to ensure ownership, safety, and sustainability of all energy access projects deployed to rural and underserved communities,

“In line with the agency’s efforts on quality control and enforcement of standards and specifications, it plans to sustain its battle on counterfeit components to improve project lifespan,” it added.