Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, says 20,000 new solar energy household units will be dispersed across rural areas in the first phase of the Federal Government’s ‘beyond the grid’ project in 2017.
Professor Osinbajo said that while the government’s commitment to developing traditional means of power generation and transmission remained unshakeable, off the grid energy supply would receive heightened attention, moving forward.
He made the disclosure while commissioning the ‘beyond the grid’ solar power project which was launched by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) in Wuna community of Gwagwalada in Abuja.
The Vice President emphasised that while past rural power projects lacked vision and longevity, the solar energy initiative would strategically power industrious communities that provide goods and services to surrounding territories for broader economic development.
Overseeing the project, the Managing Director of the NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, noted that project maintenance was central in project conceptualisation.
The traditional ruler of Wuna community, Mr Yusuf Isa, who commended the initiative, said that the usage of kerosene lamps has become a memory.
He, however, highlighted some of the challenges the residents of the community faced before the launch of the project.
A farmer in the community, Solomon Jaka, also thanked the government for the project, saying the solar energy initiative has changed his life and that of his family.
