REA’s World Bank‑Backed Projects Deliver 2.5mw In Kogi; Over 5,000 Households To Benefit

The Rural Electrification Agency’s (REA) World Bank‑backed projects have delivered about 2.5MW of decentralised clean energy across Kogi State, powering newly commissioned solar hybrid mini‑grids that are expected to supply electricity to more than 5,000 households and support local businesses, schools and health facilities.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu commissioned the installations on Friday, as part of this year’s Democracy Day celebrations.

The projects, implemented by PriVida under the REA‑DARES Performance‑Based Grant programme, include a 442kW site in Emewe Efopa (Dekina LGA) and a 704kW installation in Offa (Olamaboro LGA), part of 11 completed mini‑grid sites across the state.

Speaking in his Democracy Day broadcast, Tinubu said access to reliable electricity is a “democratic dividend” and reiterated his administration’s commitment to fixing long‑standing problems in the power sector.

“To address the problems besetting the sector, I signed the Electricity Act, which grants states authority to generate, transmit, and distribute power,” the president said.

He added that a Presidential Power Sector Task Force has been mandated to reduce the metering deficit and authorised to raise a N4 trillion bond to settle verified legacy debts.

Tinubu singled out the REA’s partnership with multilateral lenders for extending power to communities left out of the national grid.

He noted the agency’s recent commissioning of the largest solar hybrid mini‑grid projects in the North‑central region and said the schemes will help more Nigerians participate in the country’s economic recovery.

Major installations delivered under the World Bank‑funded REA‑DARES Performance‑Based Grant (PBG) programme and implemented by PriVida include a 442kW site in Emewe Efopa, Dekina LGA, and a 704kW installation in Offa, Olamaboro LGA.

Those projects are part of 11 completed mini‑grid sites across Kogi State that together deliver about 2.5MW of decentralized clean energy.

The newly commissioned systems are expected to supply electricity to more than 5,000 households while powering local businesses, schools and health facilities.

Nationwide, the REA says it is developing more than 1,000 mini‑grids and rolling out 48 interconnected mini‑grids that will add about 288MW of capacity in collaboration with 11 distribution companies.

Central to the expansion is the World Bank‑supported Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale‑up (DARES) initiative, which aims to bring clean, reliable electricity to over 17.5 million Nigerians by directly powering some 2.5 million households through 1,350 mini‑grids, including 250 interconnected systems.

Beyond DARES, the REA is tapping other international partnerships. Under the Interconnected Mini‑grid Acceleration Scheme (IMAS) with the European Union, 11 interconnected mini‑grids have been deployed, including a 504kW project in Epe, Lagos, slated for commissioning by the Minister of Power. A separate Korean‑backed programme is introducing advanced storage and smart‑grid technology to suburban grids, with projects in Rubochi and Ikwa, Abuja.

For communities outside conventional transmission corridors, the agency is deploying last‑mile mini‑grids through the Rural Electrification Fund (REF). The REF is advancing more than 50 mini‑grids intended to reduce the cost of rural business operations and establish baseline electricity where none existed.

The federal government is pairing physical rollout with policy and procurement reforms aimed at cutting costs and improving reliability.

Officials cite a National Public Polarisation Project to standardise and de‑risk component procurement, and bespoke engineering projects — including a 1MW facility in Abuja and plans for an additional 40MW capacity — for industrial and strategic centres.

The administration is also promoting productive uses of power.

In partnership with the UNDP’s Africa Mini‑grid Programme, the REA has commissioned 23 specialised mini‑grids designed to support agriculture value chains, such as post‑harvest processing, milling and cold storage. A recent commissioning took place in Daddara community, Katsina State.

Officials say Nigeria is expanding its renewable energy manufacturing base as well, with about 3.7GW of capacity in the development pipeline and locally assembled solar panels beginning to serve regional markets.