The Rural Electrification Agency, REA, has superior its aim of increasing electrical energy entry throughout the nation with the commissioning of two mini-grid initiatives in Kano State, ending greater than 16 years of darkness within the beneficiary communities.
The company commissioned two initiatives: a 195kWp system in Ballagaza and a 70kWp system in Marayar Rogo, each positioned in Warawa, which can serve 2,222 households.
Speaking on the ceremony, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Abba Aliyu, described the initiatives as one other step in direction of reaching the Renewed Hope Agenda’s aim of offering electrical energy entry to greater than 17 million Nigerians.
The REA managing director described the initiatives as a robust instance of what public-private partnerships can obtain.
He additionally thanked Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf for figuring out electrical energy as a key deliverable of his administration and offering a conducive atmosphere for the execution of the initiatives.
“The Federal Government did not build these mini-grids and hand them over. Alfuttaim Nigeria Limited invested its own money, built them, and will own and operate them for many years. What the government did, through the DARES programme delivered by the REA with support from the World Bank, was to subsidise part of the cost to ensure the electricity is affordable for you.
“Under DARES, Nigeria is working in direction of 1,350 mini-grids, and the programme has already introduced new or improved electrical energy to greater than 5 million Nigerians. Our nation nonetheless has extra individuals with out electrical energy than another nation on the earth. That problem won’t be solved by a single company or programme; will probably be solved community by community, in locations like Ballagaza and Marayar Rogo, when non-public corporations are prepared to take a position and communities take possession of what’s constructed for them. The authorities’s job is to maintain its phrase to each,” he said.
The Gabazawa community, known for producing groundnuts, millet, sorghum and soybeans, as well as its blacksmiths, weavers and dyers, is expected to experience improved production through access to electricity.
Groundnuts, for instance, can be processed into oil and kuli-kuli using electric machines, enabling residents to add value to their produce and sell at better prices.
The mini-grid project will also provide electricity to the primary healthcare centre in the Gabazawa community, which previously operated without power.
In her remarks at the event, the co-founder of Alfuttaim, Dr Nabilah Sani, expressed delight at the completion of the projects, noting that they would not only power homes but also boost agricultural productivity.
She thanked the Federal Government for facilitating the funding that made the projects possible, adding that the two sites were among 10 currently under development in Kano State.
She further urged community residents to protect the infrastructure as their own and shun vandalism.
