The Federal Government has stated that over 150 million Nigerians have already been connected to electricity, with ongoing efforts to provide access to the remaining 86 million people who are yet to be electrified.
This was disclosed by Adedayo Olowoniyi, Chief Technical Adviser to the Minister of Power, during an interview on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Tuesday.
According to Olowoniyi, Nigeria’s electrification efforts are being driven by “Mission 300,” a programme developed in collaboration with the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to expand electricity access.
“In terms of the investments we are looking at in the power sector, a lot of it has been driven by what we call Mission 300. It is a programme that has been developed by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB). We were just recently in Tanzania, where we signed the Compact for Nigeria. The idea is to look for ways to provide access to 86 million Nigerians that currently don’t have access to electricity,” he said.
While addressing concerns about the power sector, Olowoniyi emphasized the need to improve the reliability of electricity supply for those already connected, as well as to focus on expanding access to the underserved population.
“It’s always important to recognize that Nigeria has electrified over 150 million people already, which is sometimes even more than a lot of countries in West Africa. Part of what we have to do is ensure reliability of supply for those that are already electrified and look at how we will provide access to that 86 million,” he added.