THE Federal Government has started installing solar systems in the rural areas of Lagos state as part of efforts targeted at cushioning the negative impact of fuel subsidy removal. The Managing Director, Rural Electrification Agency, REA, Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, disclosed this, weekend, while inspection some schools and hospitals, where the Solar Home System (SHS) have been installed at Makoko, Lagos.
He said: “The Makoko SHS deployment is a project captured under the FG’s National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy. “Given the Agency’s role is providing access to electricity for unserved and underserved areas, the role being played here is more of a social service to mitigate the environmental and economic challenges of the community. “This visit is part of a larger visit to the South West region with sites at Osogbo and Ijebu-Ode also visited. The management will return and access the impact of the projects so far.
Stakeholder engagement (State Governments, Community Groups and end-users) will continue while all the feedback gathered is considered. “What is clear even in the immediate aftermath is that using a de-centralized approach towards electrification of communities such as Makoko is the right approach given the difficulty of operating a traditional grid system.” He also said that the project, captured under the government National Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy remains a social service to rural dwellers. In his recent visit to Osun state, Engr. Ahmad, had said: “We came to our Zonal office in Osun and we decided to do a short inspection of the Energizing Economies Intitiative (EEI) that we have in Ayegbaju International Market, Osogbo. “We came to see the progress of the work and we are very happy with what we have seen here today. “The concept is to see how we can work with the market association and most importantly, work with the state government to scale-up solar power supply to the whole market. “What we have seen is the tremendous interest of the market people in the solar energy alternative, especially using it to replace petrol generators, in the face of subsidy removal.”
