WorldStage— Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Abba Aliyu, had stated that Nigeria will need at least $23 billion in fresh investments to address its persistent electricity challenges.
Aliyu disclosed the $23 billion figure during a strategic agreement signing ceremony in Abuja, declaring at the event that unprecedented power demand is driven by population growth, artificial intelligence, digitalisation, and rapid vehicle electrification.
According to him, a nationwide data mapping exercise by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) identified 143,000 communities with varying degrees of power access, requiring extensive grid infrastructure and off-grid solutions.
To jumpstart financing, the REA signed a collaboration pact with Alpha Morgan Bank, which has committed up to ₦50 billion in counterpart financing for local renewable energy developers.
The REA boss disclosed that eligible private developers under REA programmes, including the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) project, can access revolving loans of up to ₦10 billion each.
The funding emergency highlights a broader structural crisis. While the REA emphasizes a $23 billion baseline target for underserved and off-grid populations, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, separately stated that Nigeria actually requires around $10 billion annually over the next 10 to 20 years to achieve a fully stabilized national grid system.
