The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has announced its intention to provide public schools and health centers in Nigeria, Benin, Chad, and sixteen other African nations with electricity at a cost of $380 million.
The commission stated that in order to solve the region’s power deficit, the electrification project would be implemented through its Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP).
The World Bank, Clean Technology Fund (CTF), and the Dutch government’s Directorate General of International Cooperation (DGIS) are providing funding for the project. Eyes Of Lagos reports,
The project’s goal is to increase rural people in the ECOWAS region’s access to electricity, according to El-hadji Sylla, senior adviser at the commission on ROGEAP, who made this revelation yesterday during a stakeholders’ engagement conference on energizing public institutions in Nigeria.
“In order to electrify public institutions, we aim to foster a new, innovative chain. Our goal is to enhance service delivery by electrifying health centers and schools. The concept is being piloted in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. Four nations in the Sahel and fifteen in the ECOWAS are included in the project, he said.
Speaking specifically about the project’s implementation in Nigeria, Sylla stated that the commission hopes to electrify a number of public schools and health centers in the Federal Capital Territory, Niger, and Nasarawa states within the next 18 months. She also mentioned that while the completion of the pilot project in Nigeria and Benin is anticipated to take 18 months, the region’s overall project is anticipated to be completed in five years across the various countries.
Adebayo Adelabu’s minister of power, Engr. Bem Ayangeaor, also spoke, stating that grants and subsidies have led to an increase in Nigeria’s rural electrification sector.
He said that the ministry has been putting creative ideas into practice to electrify rural villages through capital subsidies managed by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
