The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has secured funds from the World Bank and African Development Bank for the implementation of phase 2 and 3 of the Energizing Education Programme (EEP).
Its Managing Director, Ahmad Salihijo, disclosed this at the commissioning of 8.2mw solar hybrid project in the Federal University of Agriculture Markurdi, Benue State.
Although he did not reveal the amount the agency has secured from the banks, he explained that it is meant for the design and construction hybrid power plants in 15 Federal Universities and two Teaching Hospitals that will be executed under the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).
He said “Moving forward, the REA has secured funding from the World Bank and African Development Bank towards the implementation of Phase 2 and Phase 3 of the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) respectively.
“These phases will see to the design and construction of captive hybrid power plants across a total of 15 federal universities and two Teaching Hospitals and they will be implemented under the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).”
The REA boss said under the Phase 1 of the EEP, nine Federal Universities were selected from the six (6) geo-political zones in Nigeria, with the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi being the selection for the North Central Zone.
He added that the Programme implementation was designed to incorporate gender mainstreaming through the Female STEM Internship Programme.
The STEM Programme, he said, was targeted at training 20 female students per university on the various components in the Engineering, Procurement and Construction chain of power plant deployment.
Continuing, he said “so far, two (2) power plants have been commissioned under the EEP i.e. the 2.8MW captive solar hybrid power project at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State, on the 2nd of August 2019 and the 7.1MW captive solar hybrid project at Bayero University, Kano State on the 3rd of September 2019.
“Thus, this will be the third EEP Phase 1 site to be commissioned, with two (2) others scheduled for commissioning in the coming weeks.”
In his remarks, the FUAM, Prof Richard Kimbir said the project will impact and influence the delivery of access to electricity that is safe, reliable, and sustainable.
The EEP, according to him, will no doubt support FUAM’s mission to address developmental challenges in Nigeria, through innovative research, knowledge transfer and training.
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, expressed joy that days of power outages on the campus have become history, noting that students can now increase their study hours.
Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Committee on Power, Senator David Suswan pledged the support of the committee to induce increased investments for the power sector.