The International Finance Corporation has signed an agreement with five Distributed Renewable Energy companies to support the rollout of mini-grid projects across Nigeria.

The agreement was signed on Monday during the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam.

These five companies include Havenhill Synergy Ltd., Prado Power Ltd., PriVida Power Ltd., Sosai Renewable Energies Ltd., and Virtuitis Solaris Ltd.

They were part of the World Bank Group-financed Nigeria Distributed Access Through Renewable Energy Scale-up programme, Nigeria DARES, implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency of Nigeria.

As of 2021, more than 85 million Nigerians lacked access to electricity.
Businesses and households with access to the national grid faced unreliable and insufficient supply and were forced to rely on costly, polluting and harmful petrol and diesel-run generators.

The new agreement aims to support Nigeria in closing its electricity access gap and accelerating its transition towards sustainable, efficient, and economically viable electricity supply.

During the signing of the agreement, the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, lauded the partnership between the IFC and DRE companies and emphasised the significance of the initiative in addressing energy poverty on the continent.

He said, “This is one of the first tangible actions we can point to at this summit, which will culminate in the Dar es Salaam Declaration. Today’s agreement will bring electricity access to 400,000 people, and we all know how transformative that is. I encourage us to keep up this momentum of doing rather than merely saying.”

Mr Edun also paid tribute to the leadership of World Bank president Ajay Banga and African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina for their vision and determination.

“It is their drive and determination that have galvanised us on this important journey to bring dignity, development, and light to Africans who are literally in the dark. This mission will be their abiding legacy,” he added.

Also, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, underscored collaboration between the public and private sectors to achieve universal energy access in Africa.

Mr Adelabu stressed the importance of partnerships in bridging the 30 billion dollar funding gap required to meet Nigeria’s energy needs.

The minister stressed the importance of combining public and private funding, including equity and debt financing, to achieve the country’s energy goals.

(NAN)