Nigeria has officially switched on its Solar Power Naija programme, which was announced last year as a measure to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Nigeria’s Guardian, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo last week launched the first phase of the project, which will ultimately target 5 million households in off-grid rural communities.

‘The project launch is the first phase of the deployment of 100 000 solar home systems, under the Solar Power Naija programme of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan,’ he said at the launch in Jigawa.

One of the goals of the plan, he added, was to expand energy access to 25 million people, through 5 million new connections via solar home systems or mini-grids.

It would also ‘increase local content in the off-grid solar value chain and facilitate the growth of the local manufacturing and assembly industry’, in addition to creating 250 000 jobs in the energy sector.

The federal government has committed more than NGN140 billion to the project, with the Central Bank of Nigeria providing soft loans worth about US$200 million.

13 April 2021
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