The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has reiterated the organisation’scommitment to the ambitious roadmap aimed at achieving universal electricity access in Nigeria by 2060 while developing 3.7 gigawatts of local renewable energy manufacturing capacity as part of efforts to deepen energy access and industrialisation.
Managing Director of the REA, Dr Abba Aliyu, disclosed this while presenting the agency’s electrification strategy to a visiting delegation from the Zanzibar Utilities Regulatory Authority (ZURA) in Abuja, saying Nigeria was accelerating investments in renewable energy to close its electricity access gap and position itself for the rapidly growing global demand for power.
The REA chief executive said agreements signed during the 2025 Nigeria Renewable Energy Innovation Forum would unlock a combined manufacturing capacity of 3.7 gigawatts across six states in partnership with seven companies.
The projects, he said, include photovoltaic manufacturing facilities in Kano, Abuja, Ogun, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom states, alongside a recycling plant in Lagos.
“We are about to inject 3.7 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity in Nigeria. Already many of Nigeria’s PV panels produced in Lagos have been exported to Ghana.
“We want to reduce the importation of PV panels from China. We are asking Chinese companies to come to Nigeria and establish their factories. By the end of next year, we will have 3.7 gigawatts manufacturing capacity. This is one of the biggest achievements that we have recorded,” Aliyu said.
He attributed the falling cost of renewable energy technologies largely to advances in Chinese manufacturing, noting that declining prices for photovoltaic panels and lithium batteries were making renewable energy the most economically viable option for expanding electricity access.
“One of the reasons is credit goes to the Chinese. They have really demystified renewable energy technology. They have crashed the cost of PV panels. Even lithium battery pricing has gone down and will continue to go down,” he stated.
Aliyu argued that global electricity demand was entering an unprecedented phase driven by population growth, widespread electrification and the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centres.
“The demand for electricity has never been seen before. There are three critical reasons: electrification of everything, population growth and AI and data centres. Electricity is going to determine how health services, education, agriculture and virtually everything else will be done,” he said.
He stressed that African countries must not only pursue universal electricity access but also prepare for the next wave of electricity demand arising from technological transformation.
The REA boss said the agency had developed one of the country’s most comprehensive geospatial databases, mapping more than 700,000 communities, over 51,000 hospitals, 11,000 markets, thousands of schools, factories, dams and electricity feeders to guide least cost electrification planning.
According to him, the mapping enables the agency to determine whether communities should be served through solar home systems, mini grids or grid extension based on technical and economic considerations rather than adopting a one size fits all approach.
Aliyu also disclosed that Nigeria now has several Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs), many of which have evolved from contractors into utility scale operators and are already expanding into other African countries following reforms to the country’s mini grid regulations.
Aliyu reiterated that about 85 million Nigerians, representing almost 40 per cent of the population, still lacked access to electricity, despite the country’s electrification rate currently standing at about 61 per cent.
He noted that Nigeria’s average electricity demand is estimated at 25,000 megawatts, while peak available supply remains about 4,000 megawatts, underscoring the scale of the country’s energy deficit.
To support ongoing projects, Aliyu reiterated that the REA currently has a public finance and grants portfolio of about $1.23 billion sourced from federal budget appropriations, regulatory funding, development finance institutions, bilateral partners and intervention funds.
He listed major funding windows to include the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale up (DARES) programme, the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, the Nigeria Power Sector Support Initiative, and other intervention schemes.
Speaking during the visit, World Bank Consultant to the Zanzibar Electricity Corporation (ZURA), Dr. William Gboney, described Nigeria as one of Africa’s leading countries in off grid and mini grid regulation.
Gboney said the visit had demonstrated that African countries could increasingly learn from one another in developing sustainable electricity access solutions, underscoring the need for the visit.
“We don’t necessarily have to travel outside Africa to build capacity or acquire new knowledge. Based on my research, when it comes to off-grid and mini grid regulation, Nigeria ranks among the best on the continent,” he said.
Emmanuel Addeh
