Precious Anga
Lagos — More than 85 million Nigerians, representing about 40 per cent of the country’s population, still do not have reliable access to electricity from the national grid, the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, has said.
The disclosure was made by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the REA, Dr Abba Aliyu, during the signing of a Joint Development Agreement with Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited in Abuja. The partnership is expected to establish a solar panel and battery assembly and manufacturing facility in Nigeria.
Aliyu described the agreement as a significant step towards strengthening Nigeria’s renewable energy industry, noting that it marks the first time a Tier-1 Chinese renewable energy company has committed to setting up manufacturing and assembly operations in the country.
According to him, although the agency has expanded electricity access through programmes such as the Rural Electrification Fund, the Nigerian Electrification Project and the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up Project, millions of Nigerians continue to experience unreliable or inadequate electricity supply.
“More than 85 million Nigerians, close to 40 per cent of our population, still lack reliable access to grid electricity. REA exists to close that gap,” Aliyu said.
The REA boss also expressed concern over Nigeria’s heavy dependence on imported renewable energy equipment, arguing that the country has become a major consumer of technologies manufactured abroad despite possessing abundant solar resources.
“Every electrified community across Nigeria today tells the same quiet story. The panel on the rooftop was engineered abroad. The battery beneath it was assembled abroad. The inverter that ties it together was also manufactured outside the country,” he said.
He added that Nigeria currently provides the market for renewable energy products while other countries benefit from the industrial value chain.
“Nigeria supplied the roof, the need and the market, while someone else supplied the technology and equipment,” Aliyu stated.
According to him, continued reliance on imported solar components has denied the country employment opportunities, industrial development, technical expertise and valuable foreign exchange.
“Every dollar we spend importing solar modules is a dollar that could have been paid to Nigerian technicians or invested in Nigerian factories. We have been financing someone else’s industrial growth with our own electrification budget,” he said.
Aliyu explained that the partnership with Ecotech would allow the REA, through its renewable asset management subsidiary, to facilitate the annual offtake of up to 200 megawatts of locally manufactured solar photovoltaic modules and 200 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems.
He stressed, however, that the agreement does not amount to an automatic procurement arrangement.
“This agreement is not a procurement mandate. Every transaction will still comply with our procurement rules and be judged on price, quality and reliability. We are not lowering the bar; we are widening who gets a fair opportunity to meet it,” he said.
He noted that increasing local production of renewable energy equipment would reduce import dependence, shorten project delivery timelines, create skilled jobs, conserve foreign exchange and strengthen Nigeria’s manufacturing capacity.
Aliyu added that the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030 through private sector-driven industrialisation.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Ecotech Development Nigeria Limited, John Zhao, said the company would manufacture and assemble solar panels, battery energy storage systems and hybrid inverters for residential, commercial and industrial users in Nigeria.
Zhao said the company would also provide engineering design, system integration, installation and long-term maintenance services, adding that the investment would improve access to quality renewable energy technologies while supporting local manufacturing and Nigeria’s transition to cleaner energy.
Nigeria continues to face a significant electricity deficit, with millions of households and businesses relying on generators and alternative energy sources due to unreliable grid supply. In response, the Federal Government has intensified efforts to expand renewable energy deployment through mini-grids, solar home systems and policies aimed at encouraging local manufacturing of renewable energy equipment.
