The Rural Electrification Agency has identified the provision of solar-powered energy to public institutions as a key component of its agenda in the 2025 fiscal year.
Managing Director of the agency, Abba Aliyu stated this on Wednesday shortly after making a presentation on REA’s 2024 budget performance and projections in the 2025 Appropriation Bill.
Accompanied by top functionaries of the agency including the son of the All Progressives Congress National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, Mr Umar Ganduje who serves as REA’s Executive Director (Technical Services), Aliyu said President Bola Tinubu’s approval for the deployment of solar power in the public sector is intended to cut the cost of governance.
He said, “What we did today is to present the 2025 budget proposal which is the biggest REA’s budget so far in the history of the country. The first key aspect of our 2025 budget is the National Public Sector Solarization Initiative, an initiative of President Bola Tinubu with a proposal of N100bn provided.
“The essence of this initiative is for REA to solarize the public sector. If you look at the data of the budget implementation over the years, you will see the quantum of money used by public institutions to buy generators and diesel to provide electricity.
“So, the Federal Government now sees it as a way to reduce the cost of governance and provide REA with funding for use to solarize this public institution. This is part of what we presented to the House Committee.”
Although the 2024 budget performance presentation was held behind closed doors, Aliyu in a brief interview with journalists highlighted the key achievements of the agency in the past year.
“For the 2024 budget performance, REA implemented various aspects of work. Key among them was grid extension and the deployment of mini-grids for productive use, which specifically were chosen and deployed within agricultural areas.
“We also carried out deployment of solar home systems. We did a substantial number of that deployment in 2024,” he added.
The REA boss also commended President Tinubu for the huge allocation to the agency in the 2025 budget proposal, saying, “I think we’ve never had it this good. REA’s budget proposal for this year (2025) is excellent.
“If you look at last year, the total budget presentation was about N160bn, but this year, we have over N500bn. So, our budget allocation for this year is more than good for us. All that is required is for us to go deploy it and start implementation of our projects to deliver on the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr President,” he stated.