Association of Rural Electrification Contractors of Nigeria (ARECON) has urged President-elect Bola Tinubu to pay extra attention to electricity projects and challenges confronting the sector.

The association made the plea in a statement signed by ARECON’s spokesman, Rotimi Raheem, on Wednesday.

Mr Raheem dismissed reports of alleged misconduct of the managing director of Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Ahmad-Salihijo Ahmad, adding that allegations of conflict of interest were false.

He said since 2020, ARECON, under its present leadership, had approached the business of electrification differently through a five-year strategy document that had strengthened the internal working of REA.

Mr Raheem said ARECON had consistently been improving REA project delivery vehicles, saying that the agency was established to align with the federal government’s objectives on project delivery.

According to him, ARECON has consistently delivered to REA clean and sustainable energy infrastructure nationwide under the power ministry.

He said allegations of fraud and conflict of interest had recently been recounted against Mr Ahmad.

According to him, ARECON described these attempts as ploys by detractors to tarnish the image of the MD of REA.

He explained that the REA boss had also described as untrue and defamatory a petition written against him to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by Donnington Nigeria Limited, accusing the REA chief of holding the position of a director in Velocity Logistics and Marine Services Ltd while equally serving as MD/CEO of the agency.

Mr Raheem said in 2022, REA officially hit and crossed the one million connection milestone by deploying a standalone solar home system for improved energy access across Nigeria.

He said the objective of SHS for households and MSMEs component of the Nigeria Economy Power (NEP) was to help millions of households and MSMEs access better energy services at affordable cost.

“The target beneficiaries are people in off-grid locations or underserved customers that have inefficient and unreliable energy access. ARECON also believes that for the tempo to be sustained in the realisation of sustainable electricity across Nigeria, as REA continues its vision and mandate of universal access to affordable electricity, it is imperative for paid elements to abstain from false allegations against the MD of REA,” stated Mr Raheem.

(NAN)