The federal government on Wednesday, September 16, reaffirmed president Bola Tinubu’s promise to tackle power sector challenges and deliver reliable electricity to Nigerians.
The minister of power, Joseph Tegbe, stated this when he inaugurated a 3MW captive solar hybrid power project at Yakubu Gowon University, Abuja, to strengthen electricity supply for teaching, research, laboratories, digital services and other critical university operations.
The project was delivered under phase II of the Energising Education Programme (EEP), implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) through the World Bank-funded Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).
With almost 40,000 students, including more than 8,000 living on campus, and over 3,500 staff, the university has substantial electricity requirements across its academic, residential and administrative facilities.
Tegbe said the investment demonstrated the practical connection between Nigeria’s energy transition and human capital development.
“There is perhaps no better place to demonstrate the practical value of Nigeria’s energy transition than a university,” he said.
“A university brings together everything that a modern energy system is expected to support: learning, research, healthcare, technology, administration and, increasingly, the digital infrastructure through which knowledge is created and shared.”
The minister said the facility would provide a more reliable energy base for teaching and research, while stressing that its long-term performance would be the real measure of the investment.
“The commissioning is not the conclusion of the investment. It is the beginning of its most important phase,” he said.
Tegbe linked the emphasis on sustainability to the recently established Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), which is intended to strengthen the long-term management and performance of renewable energy assets.
The managing director and chief executive officer of the REA, Abba Aliyu, said the energising education programme had grown beyond providing electricity infrastructure to demonstrating how energy investment could support education and human capital development.
He said the programme was conceived to change what reliable electricity could mean for Nigeria’s public universities by creating the conditions for students to learn, lecturers to teach, researchers to work, laboratories to function and universities to operate with greater certainty.
Across the programme, REA said renewable energy infrastructure had been delivered to 22 federal universities and three affiliated teaching hospitals, with more than 100MW of clean energy deployed and over 600,000 students and 50,000 academic and administrative staff impacted nationwide.
Aliyu said REA’s experience implementing projects at that scale had reinforced the importance of planning for the entire life of an energy asset, from construction and commissioning to operation, maintenance and long-term performance.
“We have become very good at asking, ‘How do we build more?’ We must now become equally rigorous about asking, ‘How do we protect what we have already built? How do we make it perform? And how do we preserve its value?’” he said.
He said the experience contributed to the thinking behind RAMCO and would inform REA’s continuing efforts to develop models that attract private capital, expand electricity access and protect public investment.
The head of the Nigeria Electrification Project, Olufemi Akinyelure, said the significance of the project should be measured by the wider development opportunities reliable electricity creates.
“Government may not be in the business of making profit, but it must always be in the business of making progress. And perhaps no public investment yields a greater return than investment in education because when we power a university, we do not merely light buildings; we illuminate minds, enable innovation and strengthen the future of our nation,” Akinyelure said.
Vice-chancellor of Yakubu Gowon University, Hakeem Fawehinmi, described the project as an investment in the university’s academic mission.
“A university such as ours cannot teach effectively, conduct meaningful research, operate its laboratories, sustain digital services or even provide the conducive environment required for learning and innovation without dependable power supply,” Fawehinmi said.
He said the project was helping strengthen electricity supply for the rapidly growing institution and assured partners that the university would ensure the facility was properly utilised and maintained.
Chairman of the senate committee on power, senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the project demonstrated the connection between energy policy, effective implementation and tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
He said the legislature would continue to provide the legislative environment and oversight required to support power-sector investment, strengthen accountability and ensure that projects deliver sustainable benefits.
“Sustainability must therefore remain a priority,” Abaribe said, stressing the importance of university ownership and appropriate arrangements for the operation, maintenance and protection of the facility throughout its useful life.
Beyond electricity supply, the project includes a Renewable Energy Workshop and Training Centre to support practical learning and skills development in renewable energy technologies.
The energising education programme also incorporates a female STEM component that provides students with practical exposure to renewable energy and opportunities within the sector.
The Yakubu Gowon University project was delivered through collaboration between the federal government, REA, the Nigeria Electrification Project, the World Bank, the university and EMONE energy solutions.
With the facility commissioned, attention now shifts to ensuring its long-term performance and translating more reliable electricity into better learning conditions, stronger research and greater opportunities for innovation.
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