The Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Mr. Abba Abubakar Aliyu, has announced that Nigeria has secured $950 million in funding for its Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme.
Speaking at a renewable energy service company collaborative agreement signing ceremony in Abuja, Aliyu reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to improve power supply to its 86 million citizens without access to electricity.
The companies involved in the deal include Ashipa Electric Ltd, De-Janees, Concepts Ltd, Fox Power Ltd, MBH Power Ltd, Okra Solar PTY Ltd, Oando Clean Energy, Sosal Renewable Energy Ltd and Welight Nigeria Ltd.
He said the government had last year secured $750 million from the World Bank and another $200 million from the Japanese International Development Corporation, JICA, in February 2025.
He stated that the government has given a clear mandate to REA to make Nigeria the renewable energy hub in West Africa.
“For us to make Nigeria a renewable hub, there is a need for finance, there is a need for projects, there is a need for implementing vehicles, there is a need for an operational framework, and there is a need for the domestication of our value chain.
“First, when it comes to finance, it is on record that this government has signed the biggest public sector funded renewable project in the entire sub-Saharan Africa. The $750 million DARES project has not only been signed, but the project has already started. We have started with the 14 inter-connected mini-grids that will not only create reliability for the under-served but also be the basis upon which we are going to scale up our intervention”, he stated.
He explained that to reduce that cost of governance, “we secured this N100 billion (from the Federal Government) to solarize the public sector institutions. And that project will start in the next few weeks. We also have advanced discussion with the Japanese International Development Corporation for additional co-financing funding of $200 million that will be added to the $750 million DARES project, making the total funding for DARES to be $950 million”.
He stressed that the DARES Project will provide electricity to 17.5 million Nigerians, adding that three million Nigerians will be served using isolated mini-grids, 1.5 million using interconnected mini-grids and about 12 million using mesh-free and standalone solar systems.
Speaking at the event, the President/CEO, Oando Clean Energy, Ademola Ogunbanjo said the company is making huge investment into the sector, disclosing that in the next one year it would roll out 600MW lines in the sector.
He revealed that the facility being built by the company would produce solar panels and will also be able recycle used solar panels.
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