REA Set to Convene Strategic Roundtable with Kogi State Government as Governor Seeks Agency’s Support on Unlocking Potentials in State Electricity Market
On the 21st of January 2025, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) will host the Kogi State Governor, His Excellency Ahmed Usman Ododo, alongside other frontline stakeholders in the private sector and the global development space. This Roundtable is part of the Agency’s ongoing strategic collaboration with the sub-nationals under the State-by-State initiative. Designed to exploit the strategic, data-driven recommendations codified in the 2023 Electricity Act as passed into law by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, x-raying the National Electrification Strategy Plan (NESIP), the REA has so far convened successful Roundtables with 4 State governments in the last 3 months.
The passage of the 2023 Electricity Act by the Federal Government has effectively repealed the erstwhile 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA). A key instruction in the new Act is the liberalization of the nation’s electricity generation, transmission, and distribution at the National level, effectively activating State Governments' regulatory authority through the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC). The NERC has since kick-started the transfer of regulatory oversight to state governments, effectively decentralizing the nation’s electricity market and enabling sub-nationals to design their respective state regulatory mechanisms.
Upon the passage of the 2023 Electricity Act, the REA remains central to the strategic development of rural and unserved communities across Nigeria, through the implementation of energy access interventions. Under Section 127 of the 2023 Electricity Act, the REA is tasked with the principal objective of facilitating the electrification of rural, unserved, and under-served markets in an economical manner that would allow for reasonable returns on investment through appropriate tariffs that meet the social, industrial and agricultural needs of rural communities. The Agency shall also support the development of renewable energy sources and provide public education for rural electrification and renewable energy production and consumption.
On the 17th of December 2024, while on a courtesy visit to the Agency’s headquarters in Abuja, Governor Usman Ododo expressed his confidence in the continued value of the REA mandate. The Governor assured the Agency of his commitment to unlocking the potential of the State Electricity Market and ensuring an investor-friendly business ecosystem that will attract key sector players to the State.
The MD/CEO of the REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, while mainstreaming the transformative opportunities in the nation’s clean energy sector, including the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme and the Federal Government’s Rural Electrification Fund (REF), has given assurances of the REA’s readiness to work in lockstep with the State Government in the journey towards nurturing an investor-friendly, data-driven and people-focused electricity sector.
The REA – Kogi State Roundtable will therefore focus on strategic touch points, including exploiting the tenets of the National Electrification and Strategy Implementation Plan; strengthening Public-Private-Partnerships for data-driven clean energy projects; nurturing close-knit collaboration with beneficiary communities to aid project sustainability and longevity; exploring investment opportunities in the Kogi State Electricity Market; enhancing the investment climate in the State, while leveraging the State Government buy-in and assurance; advancing the State Government’s electricity roadmap to catalyze sustainable development; exploring technological options for improved energy access and socioeconomic development in last-mile communities.
The Roundtable, scheduled to hold at the Rockview Hotel, Abuja will play host to frontline professionals with technical capacity from within the REA as well as active stakeholders in the nation’s clean energy space, including Renewable Energy Service Companies (RESCOs) ready to to advance their technical capacity to implement utility-scale renewable energy projects nationwide.