Tinubu Approves $750m For Rural Electrification.

Federal Government has approved a $750 million dollars World Bank funding for the construction of 1,200 mini-grids in rural communities across Nigeria.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, who disclosed this at the Alliance for Rural Electrification Energy Access Forum held in Lagos said, President Bola Tinubu approved the fund for the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up project, which aimed at providing energy access to Nigerians in rural communities.

Aliyu said, about 19 million of the 85 million Nigerians are without access to energy and would be provided electricity under the scheme, noting that Nigeria has the highest electricity gap in the world, while, the Federal Government was doing a lot to bridge the gap, adding that, the fund would be used as a capital subsidy to incentivize the private sector to electrify 23 per cent of the total electrified Nigerians.

He also said, the Federal Government is currently implementing one phase of the Nigeria Electrification Project, which is a $550 million dollar project funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said one of the critical mandates of the power ministry is how to bring energy access to everyone in Nigeria.