Stakeholders harp on electricity access in powering productivity, economic growth
By Udeme Akpan
Stakeholders have emphasised the importance of improved electricity access in driving productivity and achieving economic prosperity.
This call was made at the National Stakeholders Engagement Workshop hosted by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in Abuja, yesterday, with the theme, “Unlocking and Scaling the Sustainable Adoption of Productive Use of Energy Technologies Across Nigeria: Harmonising Financing Opportunities and Policy Frameworks”.
At the event, Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, emphasised that the current administration is shifting the focus of electrification from mere infrastructure to tangible economic empowerment.
“Our approach to energy diversification under the administration of President Bola Tinubu reflects a simple but profound truth: rural electrification is no longer about extending wires into communities. It is about extending opportunity, creating prosperity, enabling enterprise, and transforming electricity from a social service into an economic catalyst,” Tegbe stated.
Expanding on the need for actionable outcomes, the minister challenged stakeholders to rethink how success is measured within the power sector.
“When we speak about electricity, we often measure success by megawatts generated, kilometres of distribution lines constructed, or the number of households connected. Those are important indicators. But they are not the ultimate objective. The true measure of success is what electricity enables,” he explained.
Tegbe further stressed that electricity by itself does not transform an economy, it becomes transformational only when it powers productivity.
This, he noted, is why the Productive Use of Energy (PUE) agenda sits at the critical intersection of energy, agriculture, industrialisation, financial inclusion, climate resilience, food security, rural development, and job creation.
In his remarks, Managing Director of REA, Dr. Abba Aliyu, called for improved synergy and collaboration between the agency, other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and development partners.
He noted that collaboration at the design stage, rather than during deployment, will optimise the use of funds and help develop replicable systems.
“Projects are managed by a project team. They are scoped, budgeted, delivered, and closed. Nigeria has had many such projects in the energy and agriculture space, some successful, some not, and the communities they were designed to serve have lived with the results of both. What we are trying to build today is something different – a system.
“Systems do not end when the funding cycle closes. They endure because the institutions that make them work have authority, political backing, and a coordination mechanism that holds them together over time. That is what this alignment is designed to be, and that is what this workshop series is designed to produce,” Aliyu said.