NDPHC Provides Electricity, Jobs for Communities Through Solar Projects
- Jangefe community in Roni local government area of Jigawa state is buzzing after getting electricity and jobs
- The project is geared towards empowering the lives of the residents and help them contribute to their sources of living
- The community marked the launch of the scheme expected to deliver 5 million solar power connections to about 25 million Nigerians in communities
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FCT, Abuja - A development work done by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) in Jangefe community, Roni local government area of Jigawa state has provided electricity and jobs through solar projects in the area.
Legit.ng gathered that the project is under the federal government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP)’s “Solar Naija” initiative.
Source: Getty Images
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In April 2021, Jangefe marked the launch of the scheme expected to deliver 5 million solar power connections to about 25 million Nigerians in communities that are off the national grid, with a further rollout expected to continue across states in the six geopolitical zones.
According to officials, indigenous solar power companies are partnering with NDPHC to implement aspects of the Solar Power Naija scheme.
One of them is Asolar Systems, founded in 2016 to bring power to off-grid communities, mostly in rural areas.
With the launch of the 1,000 units in Jangefe community, the NDPHC stated that it hopes to deliver 100,000 units across the country in the first phase of the project.
Creating jobs
According to the Managing Director of the NDPHC, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, the Solar Naija project is already providing jobs for many Nigerians.
He said in a statement seen by Legit.ng:
“We are kick-starting the 100,000 solar home system and taking this as phase 2 of our beyond the grid project at the NDPHC. Being an economic programme of government, what that means is that it is beyond providing electricity to also creating jobs.
“We are targeting about 250,000 jobs from the entire programme. The first phase we did - 20,000 units - created about 500 jobs.”
Asolar has since commenced implementation of the project with a target installation of 1,000 units at Jangefe community, and also in Nasarawa state. It has also trained over 150 agents who will work and earn revenue from installations.
Similarly, from the BTG Phase 1 project, the company said it has created about 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in beneficiaries communities and created about 300 direct and indirect jobs from BTG Phase 2 in beneficiaries communities.
Lighting up a partnership
Speaking about the arrangement with Asolar, an official of the NDPHC said the company’s proposal had to get the executive committee’s and then the board’s approval.
Explaining how due process was followed, the official further said:
“Asolar is required to deploy 100,000 units of solar home systems nationwide with better quality, higher capacity and cheaper systems.
“NDPHC will facilitate the deployment of the systems and will, in conjunction with REA, strictly monitor the implementation of the project by Asolar to ensure that the funding from the Central Bank of Nigeria is properly utilized and the solar home systems which are the purpose of the funding are provided to Nigerians.”
Legit.ng had earlier reported that to improve the accessibility of electricity to all Nigerians across the country, the federal government through the NDPHC and the REA is implementing the ESP’s Solar Power Naija programme.
The programme was flagged off by Vice president Yemi Osinbajo in Jangefe community earlier in the year.
The rollout is expected to continue across the six geopolitical zones in Edo, Lagos, Adamawa, Anambra, Kebbi, and Plateau.
Recall that VP Osinbajo recently said that Nigerians are willing to pay for electricity considering the epileptic power supply suffered by citizens for a long period of time.
The vice president also said that such acceptance from Nigerians would be dependant on the quality of services delivered by the distribution companies to various communities and homes.
He encouraged electricity distribution companies to focus on delivering better and constant electricity to citizens across the country.
Source: Legit.ng
