Tinubu Appoints Abba Aliyu As Substantive REA Boss

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has appointed Abba Abubakar Aliyu as the substantive managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

According to a statement by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, the appointment, effective from January 23, 2025, is for an initial term of four years.

Aliyu has been acting as the agency’s managing director since March 2024 until his appointment.

He has over 20 years of experience in energy and organisational development in the private and public sectors. He has played key leadership roles in the on-grid and off-grid power sectors as well as the water resources and transportation sectors of Nigeria’s economy.

Previously, he was head of the Project Management Unit at the Nigeria Electrification Project, General Manager of Corporate Services, Projects, and Research, and Deputy General Manager at Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET).

President Tinubu anticipated that Aliyu would leverage his extensive expertise to further the REA’s mission of providing rural communities with reliable electric power and contributing to the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda on sustainable energy and power.

In March last year, Tinubu suspended Ahmad Salihijo, MD of REA, alongside three agency executive directors, from office.

This followed “new findings unearthed during a comprehensive investigation into the financial activities of the Rural Electrification Agency.”

The statement is titled, ‘President Tinubu suspends Rural Electrification Agency managing director and team from office.’

In addition to Salihijo, the President suspended the Executive Directors of Corporate Services, Olaniyi Netufo, Technical Services, Barka Sajou, Rural Electrification Fund, and Sa’adatu Balgore.

Tinubu also ordered a broader investigation into the officials’ conduct in “a fraudulent expenditure amounting to over N1.2 billion over the past two years, some of which has already been recovered by anti-graft agencies.