An interventionist power programme of the Federal Government tagged, “Solar Home Systems”, takes off nationwide this week.
Under the programme, an estimated 25 million Nigerians that will benefit will pay N4,000 monthly for a period of three years.
Unveiling the solar energy solution, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr Laolu Akande, said from next week (December 7, 2020) the process of installation of five million solar home systems in underserved and off-grid communities across the country would begin.
He said the installation was in continuation of the implementation of the government’s Economic Sustainability Plan.
Akande said the solar programme known as Solar Power Naija, is being implemented by the Federal Goverment”s Rural Electrification Agency.
“An important aspect of the scheme is the option of outright ownership by beneficiaries at a cost ranging from N1, 500 per week to N4, 000 monthly depending on the capacities for a period of three years,” he explained.
He said as indicated in the Economic Sustainability Plan, the five million connections initiative is a private sector-led electricity access acceleration scheme to be facilitated by a low-cost loan facility from the Central Bank of Nigeria and implemented by REA.
“The programme will include the assembly or manufacturing of components of off-grid solutions to facilitate the growth of the local manufacturing industry.
“In view of the scale of materials required, solar equipment manufacturers/assemblers will be incentivised to set up facilities in Nigeria, thereby offering additional job opportunities to Nigerians.
“In addition, installation, servicing and payment collections are expected to provide thousands of other jobs. In all, at least 250, 000 jobs will be created,” Akande said in a statement obtained by Persecondnews.
The World Bank which is also participating in the programme is providing a grant to finance 20 percent of the retail cost of the solar system across the country.
The REA which is the lead implementing agencies of the Solar Home System had through its off-grid solar programme connected the people of Olooji community (Ijebu East) in Ogun State to electricity, for the first time in 200 years.
Olooji solar hybrid has a total capacity of 100KW completed with 304 solar panels, 72 batteries and over 30KM of distribution network cables, serving over 4,000 people.
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