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Nigeria: Rural Electrification - REA Partners Plateau State On 56 Grid Extension
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Leadership (Abuja)
26 February 2008
Posted to the web 26 February 2008
Teddy Nwanunobi
Plateau
The Plateau State government has reached an agreement with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) for the completion of the 56 grid extension projects and the execution of renewable energy projects in the state.
This assurance was given last Friday by the managing director of REA, Mr. Sam Gakpe, who promised to make his agency work together with the state government towards the completion of the project.
Gakpe disclosed that REA, soon after it was inaugurated in 2006, had discovered that many rural electrification projects that were started by the Federal Government as far back as 1986 were yet to be completed.
"Something was wrong with the management. We observed certain challenges in the execution of projects, like the then Power and Steel Ministry sitting in Abuja and conceiving projects that should be executed in Plateau without due consultation with the state government. That created some certain distortions in project executions and management and introduced elements of frustration," he said.
Gakpe, who hinted that the agency's plan was to involve the state and local government, as well as the benefiting community in the completion and maintenance of the projects to avoid degradation in the long run, said, "Most times you see very big investment in grid extension projects to a particular rural area. The perception of the populace is that government has done its duty and they should just sit back and expect the service to be delivered.
"When the network develops a problem, the local utility feel they don't make much money of it, so they tend to neglect it. So vandalism comes and as such the networks decay and soon fall on the ground and become a wasted investment. We feel that the idea of coordinating is to bring all the parties together and get them interested and know that operating and maintaining this network is a collective responsibility."
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He disclosed that the agency was setting up the Rural Electrification Fund, which will be used to develop the rural network, saying, "Currently, the access to electricity, both rural and urban, stands between 40 and 45 per cent. The projection, according to the National Power Policy, is that by the year 2020 we should have a minimum of 75 per cent coverage penetration. That means that if we have the rural segment of the country constituting about 60 to 70 per cent of the population, we have a greater responsibility to ensure that we put in place an aggressive strategy to electrify the rural areas."
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