The Rural Electrification Agency (REA), has admitted government failure, while acknowledging that private solar power generation now constitutes 20% of Nigeria’s total electricity supply and could reach 50 per cent by 2029.
The development is as a result of the continued use of aged equipment, poor maintenance culture, corruption, and looting of fund meant for power sector reform.
The REA managing director, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, stated his on Thursday, during the just concluded 25th Nigerian Oil and Gas (NOG) Energy Week in Abuja.
He said Solar’s share of national generation has risen rapidly and that sustained momentum would push it toward half of the country’s power mix within the next two to three years.
Aliyu added that the growth was driven by increasing deployment and stronger collaboration with private investors.
“Solar currently constitutes 20 per cent of the nation’s total generation capacity, and with the pace of deployment we are seeing, it is closing in on 50 per cent.”
The REA chief told delegates that Nigeria was shifting from being primarily a consumer of clean-energy equipment to becoming a regional supplier of renewable technology.
He said manufacturers in the Lagos–Sagamu industrial corridor were building capacity to meet demand across West Africa.
Aliyu said Lagos-made solar photovoltaic (PV) panels were already being exported to neighbouring countries.
He added that a pipeline of about 3.7 gigawatts of PV manufacturing capacity was under development to support further expansion.
“If you go to the Lagos–Sagamu axis, you will see manufacturing companies coming up,” he said.
While noting the rapid expansion in solar deployment and local manufacturing, REA and industry representatives cautioned that conventional gas-fired thermal plants would remain necessary to stabilise Nigeria’s grid.
