In a landmark deal, Nigeria's largest ethical banking institution, the Alternative Bank, has signed a pioneering deal with the Niger State government.
The contract, valued at over N14 billion, is to finance the delivery of 5000 electric tricycles to drive social impact, youth empowerment, business growth and economic prosperity in the Power State.
The deal will see the Niger State government, through its ministries of Transportation, Youth, Women Affairs, and Small and Medium Enterprises, procure the tricycles for the program, lease them to beneficiaries, establish an assembly and maintenance plant, and train resident youths of the state as mechanics to service the tricycles.
The charging and battery swap stations for the electric tricycles will be installed in strategic locations such as schools, hospitals and markets, across major towns in the state.
The governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umar Bago, said the deal is one step towards the upliftment of the state towards realizing its full economic potential and making Niger a "green" state.
Governor Bago said the choice of the Alternative Bank as the partner for this project was due to its innovative approach towards wealth creation, with the bank taking a joint-investor and partner-in-progress approach to financing projects, as opposed to the traditional commercial model of being just a lender.
Speaking at the deal-signing ceremony, Alhaji Garba Mohammed, Executive Director at The Alternative Bank, said: "This project, as conceived, will provide solutions to aid the economic involvement of the women, youth and small businesses by generating commercial value for the people and the government, safeguarding the environment through the use of renewable and sustainable energy sources as a driver of transportation with the great state of Niger."
"This will be the single largest delivery of electric vehicles across the country, and on the African continent."
This deal comes on the heels of the Alternative Bank's recent delivery of 120 electric tricycles to the Mata Zalla and Yar Baiwa cooperatives in Kano State. The details of the project's delivery saw the bank deliver tricycles to the women of the cooperatives, train them on servicing and maintenance of the vehicles, as well as create a battery swapping terminal within Kano metropolis for easy recharging of the tricycles for seamless operation.
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