Photo Credit: The Sun Nigeria / REA
FG to Power Universities with Solar Mini-Grids, Take Them Off National Grid
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to take Nigerian universities off the national electricity grid and power them with dedicated solar mini-grids.

The initiative is aimed at tackling persistent power outages, skyrocketing electricity bills, and poor learning conditions across tertiary institutions in the country.

Disclosing this during an interview on the Afropolitan Podcast, the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, said the project will guarantee reliable and sustainable power for teaching, research, student hostels and university teaching hospitals.

According to him, the solar projects are being executed under the Energising Education Programme (EEP) by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).

Alausa noted that epileptic power supply has over the years crippled academic activities, disrupted laboratory experiments, and forced universities to spend huge sums on diesel generators.
“We are taking our campuses off the national grid with dedicated solar power. You cannot build a modern university system where students cannot read at night, laboratories lose power in the middle of experiments, and hospitals attached to our universities are forced to run on noisy, expensive diesel generators,” he said.
The minister added that the transition to clean, captive energy will significantly reduce the financial burden of electricity tariffs on universities, freeing up funds for academic infrastructure, equipment and research.

“The burden of electricity tariffs has been one of the heaviest strains on university finances. Instead of universities sinking hundreds of millions into electricity bills every single month, funds that should be expanding faculties or buying equipment, we are solving this structurally with clean, captive energy that operates around the clock,” Alausa stated.

He stressed that stable electricity is central to the government’s human capital development agenda and crucial for Nigerian universities to compete globally in research and innovation.

To ensure sustainability, Alausa disclosed that the government has set up the Renewable Energy Asset Management Company as a special-purpose vehicle to manage and maintain the mini-grids in all beneficiary institutions.

“As Minister, I don’t just want to leave projects that will deteriorate after two years; we are aiming for sustainability that will last beyond my tenure,” he added.
Source: The Sun Nigeria –