Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has stated that the Federal Government is currently supporting private developers to provide electricity through solar energy.

This was contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the Head, Communications and Public Relations, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Olufunke Nwankwo.

Osinbajo spoke at the recent inauguration of the 100,000 Solar Home System in Jangefe community, Kazuare Emirate, Jigawa State.

The vice president said that the federal government was determined to bring power to un-served communities as part of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan.

He was quoted as saying:

“The President’s vision around that plan was that rather than have situations where people lose jobs and opportunities, we could take the opportunities of COVID-19 to create more jobs.

“So the president approved that we should do these five million solar home connections across the country, which would mean that 25 million Nigerians would have power.”

Osinbajo explained that the N140bn finance programme would support private developers to provide power to the households.

The statement read in part, “The vice president stressed that the initiative is a partnership programme with the private sector driving the connections, supported by concessionaire lending by the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks.

He said the NDPHC had been an important catalyst for off-grid solar systems, as the firm was the first to inaugurate the 100,000 systems in several states of the federation.

The Managing Director, NDPHC, Chiedu Ugbo, said the company had already provided 20,000 units of solar home systems to households across the country.

“The 20,000 units are working right now and then the government asked us to do another five million solar connections, that will include solar home systems and mini-grid, off-grid solutions,” he stated.