Aiyeku Timothy
The Federal Government will next week, commence the installation of 5 million solar home systems in under-served and off-grid communities across the country.
A presidency source stated that this is a continuation of a coordinated implementation of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) across the country.
The source disclosed that use of local content will be incentivized in the assembling and manufacturing components of off-grid solutions to facilitate growth of the local manufacturing industry.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, Mr Laolu Akande, confirmed this by disclosing that the work plan for the implementation of the N140 billion Solar Home Systems will be done nationwide in December 2020.
The programme will cover up to 5 million households, serving about 25 million individual Nigerians, especially rural communities and those not currently connected to the national grid.
It would be financed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) by making funds available to the private companies in the solar power sub-sector involved in the manufacture, assembling, installation, servicing of the solar systems, at rates ranging between 5 to 10 percent, way below the current commercial lending rates in the country.
This development will reduce the cost of acquiring the system by end users who are Nigerians, most of whom are not being served by the national grid as the reduction in the lending rate will be a big incentive for the private sector under the ESP.
Should the programme be concluded, the government is assured that power and energy would be more affordable to for the 25m Nigerians when compared to consumers of electric power.
The objective of the government is also to improve social, economic and environmental welfare of 25 million Nigerians, in addition to generating about 250,000 jobs, increasing revenues and import substitution.
