Energy access: NEP targets more than 17.5m Nigerians, $613m in private capital for mini grid, others

The Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) says it is surefooted in its mission to provide improved access to electricity in Nigeria, a programme it declares will impact 17.5 million with new and improved services.

Head of NEP, Olufemi Akinyelure, said on Monday last week, April 28, 2025, at the first grant signing ceremony under the World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up (Dares) project, which is financed by the International Development Association (IDA), that the project aimed to scale up “Nigeria’s energy access gap by providing new or improved electricity supplies to more than 17.5 million Nigerians.”

THE CONCLAVE online newspaper reports that DARES is designed to capitalise on the accomplishments of the World Bank-financed NEP.

The newspaper further reports that DARES represents a crucial collaboration between Nigeria and the World Bank, explaining that the programme is the first ever World Bak initiative of its kind.

“DARES aligns perfectly with Nigeria’s ambitious Energy Transition Plan (ETP), aiming to transform the nation’s energy landscape by expanding access to clean and sustainable power,” official documents by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), World Bank and NEP stated.

REA is the implementing agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Federal Ministry of Power, tasked with the electrification of unserved and underserved communities to catalyse economic growth and improve quality of life of Nigerians.

Specifically, the agency is implementing the NEP, an innovative programme that is private sector-driven and seeks to bridge the energy access deficit by providing electricity to households, MSMEs, educational and healthcare facilities in unserved and underserved rural communities through the deployment of solar hybrid mini grids, solar home systems (SHS), captive power plants and productive use equipment and appliances.

Akinyelure in his opening remarks at the signing ceremony said that the primary objective of the NEP was to “connect more than 17.5m people, 705,000 households, 90,000 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), 15 federal universities , 3 affiliated Teaching Hospitals, and 100 COVID-19 Isolation Centres.”

He said that being one of Africa’s largest off grid electrification programmes, with support from the World Bank and African Development Bank, the NEP comprised five major components designed to promote improved access to electricity in Nigeria.

He listed the NEP components to include solar hybrid mini grid, standalone solar home system, energising education programme (EEP II & III), result-based financing for productive use appliances & equipment, and technical assistance.

He announced that NEP had so far recorded the following achievements, to wit: 153 Solar Hybrid mini grid, which had been completed and inaugurated; 100 containerised solar hybrid system, which had been deployed in Isolation and treatment Centres (ITCs) and Health Centres; over 1.08 million verified and paid connections under solar home systems; 1,136,118 households had been provided with new and improved electricity services;94 MW capacity already installed; a total of 32MW capacity soon to be inaugurated in 7 federal universities and 2 teaching hospitals; while over 7.5 million Nigerians had been impacted.

Under the DARES delivery targets, THE CONCLAVE reports the Managing Director/CEO of REA, Mr Abba Aliyu, to have announced that 1,295 mini grids would be deployed; 1,710 isolated and 125 interconnected mini grids would be deployed; 810,000 people already connected through isolated and interconnected mini grid, while 236,986 MSMEs would be provided electricity services.

In addition, 30 public institutions are to be electrified with rooftop solar systems; 1 million farmers are to be empowered (75,000 PUE systems to be deployed in sites across Nigeria); 2.75 million sales of standalone solar systems; 465MW of energy generation to be deployed while $613 million in private capital is to be mobilised for mini grid.