MD/CEO had the privilege of engaging with the Executive Governor of Kwara State, His Excellency Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
While paying a courtesy call to His Excellency, our engagement provided another opportunity to bring him up to speed on Rural Electrification Agency’s impact report as well as well as the interventions we have recently delivered across the nation through the Agency’s programmatic strategy.
Through our data-driven decision making as well as our keen attention to strategic collaborations for sustainable development, dating back to about 2 years ago with the full support and guidance of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), we recognized the need to strengthen the REA’s engagement with State Governments, seeing how important the State Governments are for the accelerated deployment of energy access programmes nationwide.
It was great to have the opportunity to brief His Excellency on the ongoing engagement between the REA and Focal Persons in all 36 states of the federation. Only last year, we had a knowledge-driven workshop with the state governments which has led to better coordination and solution-driven collaborations.
The REA’s initial groundwork and foresight is even clearer now with the passing of the 2023 Electricity Act which has granted states the power to invest along the sector’s value chain. Working in lockstep with the state governments, we can surely open up new windows of opportunities and possibilities, drawing in investments, improving private sector participation but most importantly, accelerating people-centered electrification solutions.
There are, surely, great possibilities on data access, capacity development, sustainable finance, planning and implementation, sustainability of energy access projects as well as R&D. The REA is positioned to serve as key a stakeholder for the delivery of these pivotal touch points.
