Precious Anga
Lagos — Nigeria’s renewable-energy stakeholders have called for stronger coordination among government agencies, state governments, development partners and private-sector operators to curb project duplication, reduce waste and accelerate investment in the country’s off-grid electricity market.
The stakeholders made the call in Abuja at the relaunch of the Off-Grid Stakeholder Coordination and Partnership Forum, organised by the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, under the theme, “Repositioning Sector Coordination for Strategic Growth, Partnership and Delivery.”
The forum followed an analysis of government-funded electricity projects for 2024 and 2025, which showed that several institutions, including agencies outside the conventional power-sector structure, were implementing power projects.
Minister of Power, Chief Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe, said energy access remained a critical foundation for job creation, industrialisation and inclusive economic growth.
Represented by his Chief of Staff, Doyin Adelabu, Tegbe said off-grid and distributed renewable energy had become central to the Federal Government’s strategy for expanding electricity access alongside grid expansion and wider power-sector reforms.
He, however, warned that Nigeria’s ambitious energy-access targets would not automatically translate into large-scale delivery without effective coordination across the sector.
“Fragmentation is the quiet tax every under-coordinated sector pays: in duplicated effort, missed investment opportunities, and slower delivery of power to the Nigerians who need it most,” Tegbe said.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, said poor coordination had become a major challenge in the power sector, resulting in overlapping projects and inefficient deployment of scarce financial resources.
According to Aliyu, stakeholders need clear information on who is implementing each project, where projects are located and the resources committed to them.
He disclosed that duplication was occurring even within REA, with instances where different programmes selected the same project locations.
“If coordination is challenged at the micro level of the Rural Electrification Agency, just imagine what it is at the sector level,” Aliyu said, stressing that shrinking funding made efficient deployment of available resources increasingly important.
He identified coordination as a key tool for improving efficiency, particularly by establishing who is doing what, at what level and what interventions are still required.
Aliyu also called for greater involvement of state governments following their expanded role in electricity-market development under the Electricity Act.
He warned that without effective coordination between the Federal Government, states and other stakeholders, the emergence of multiple state electricity markets could complicate the implementation of national electrification programmes.
The REA chief executive also said stakeholders would be given access to sector data being developed by the agency, with plans to eventually make the platform available through an application.
The Executive Director of the Rural Electrification Fund, Engr Doris Uboh-Ogunkoya, said Nigeria’s off-grid sector had evolved from a relatively small collection of pilot projects into a growing market involving government institutions, development partners, financiers, private operators, manufacturers and industry associations.
She said the sector’s next phase would require stronger collaboration as financing constraints, increased state participation, local-content priorities and the need to mobilise private capital reshape the market.
Uboh-Ogunkoya said the coordination forum would operate as a continuous platform supported by a dedicated Off-Grid Coordination Secretariat, issue-based working groups, action tracking, knowledge management and shared sector intelligence.
She said the objective was to move beyond periodic meetings by establishing clear priorities, assigning responsibilities and tracking implementation.
Also speaking, the Heinrich Böll Nigeria representative, Ikenna-Donald Ofoegbu, said Nigeria needed to move beyond measuring off-grid development solely by the number of mini-grids installed or electricity connections delivered.
He called for greater emphasis on how electricity access supports livelihoods, businesses and local economic activity, particularly through agriculture, agro-processing, cold storage, irrigation, milling, welding and digital enterprises.
Ofoegbu also advocated patient and innovative financing to attract commercial investment while reducing risks associated with serving underserved communities.
He stressed that the long-term viability of mini-grid projects would depend on effective operations and maintenance, sustainable tariffs, equipment replacement, consumer protection, developer viability and community participation.
He further called for stronger local capacity in renewable-energy manufacturing, technology, financing, research and entrepreneurship.
“The question now is how we move from successful interventions to scale; from connections to productive use; from donor-supported projects to investable markets; and from individual programmes to a coordinated national ecosystem,” Ofoegbu said.
The forum brought together representatives of government, state authorities, development partners, financial institutions, private-sector developers, civil society organisations and renewable-energy industry groups to examine financing, policy, investment, data sharing and the future development of Nigeria’s off-grid electricity market.
