By JKNewsMedia
PROGRESS ON Nigeria’s Mission 300 energy access initiative has drawn commendation from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), which has pledged technical support to strengthen implementation and monitoring.
The commitment followed a visit by a GEAPP delegation to the Federal Ministry of Power, where discussions centred on Nigeria’s expanding clean energy access and progress in renewable energy deployment.
During the meeting, GEAPP’s Africa Director and Leader of Delegation, Labna Bhayani, expressed satisfaction with the government’s pace of reform under the current administration.
She praised the Ministry’s efforts in advancing policy reforms, grid improvements, and off-grid electrification programmes aimed at ensuring energy access for all Nigerians.
“Our mission here is to get first-hand information on how you are progressing on the programme. Even though we do not give loans like the World Bank or the African Development Bank, as we are philanthropic, we will provide assistance where we feel it is needed to help you provide clean energy to your people,” Bhayani stated.
She noted that GEAPP was impressed with Nigeria’s strides in policy and technical progress and would collaborate through technical assistance and partnerships.
Bhayani added that GEAPP’s support would particularly focus on monitoring and tracking the progress of the Mission 300 initiative to ensure measurable outcomes.
She affirmed that the organisation’s intervention aligns with its goal of accelerating equitable energy transitions and promoting clean, affordable energy in developing economies.
Responding, the Minister of Power Adebayo Adelabu, outlined Nigeria’s strategic steps towards achieving the Mission 300 objectives, which aim to deliver electricity access to 300 million Africans by 2030.
He explained that Nigeria’s implementation approach targets rural development, particularly in agriculture and small-scale enterprises, through solar-powered solutions.
According to Adelabu, the government is prioritising the deployment of solar-powered irrigation systems for farmers nationwide as part of efforts to transform agricultural productivity and promote clean energy use in rural communities.
“We want to focus on irrigation for our rural farmers and deploy thousands of solar power pumps to help boost productivity.
“We will also follow this with solar-powered storage facilities because, when they produce more than can be consumed, storage becomes a challenge as the products go bad quickly,” he said.
The Minister added that similar renewable energy interventions would extend to small-scale rural businesses such as local processing firms and community medicine stores, enabling them to transition to clean energy and enhance their output.
“We want to achieve this for our rural farmers using non-grid methods to power processors, planters, harvesters, and other implements,” Adelabu explained.
He further highlighted Nigeria’s commitments made as a signatory to Mission 300 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where the country presented its National Energy Compact earlier in the year.
According to him, the compact focuses on revolutionising rural economies through solar energy and off-grid systems, supporting both agricultural and small-business productivity.
Adelabu emphasised the importance of foreign technical assistance in tracking and evaluating the country’s implementation progress.
“We need technical support to monitor and track different parts and locations in the country so that, at any time, we can measure our achievements through data collection,” he stated.
“Even though we have made significant progress in implementing this policy, there are still gaps to fill to ensure full execution beyond rhetoric.”
Providing updates on broader energy reforms, the Minister explained that the government is implementing several complementary initiatives to strengthen power generation and distribution nationwide.
These include the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), which has added 700 megawatts to the national grid, with another 7,000 megawatts expected in the next phase through the Siemens project.
He also noted ongoing efforts to achieve cost-reflective tariffs and expand metering coverage to ensure accurate billing and eliminate estimated charges for consumers.
“We have established key pillars of the compact and held our first stakeholders’ meeting about two months ago. We are extending energy access to rural communities through primary healthcare projects and have secured funding from India to support this,” Adelabu said.
He reaffirmed the Ministry’s readiness to collaborate with international partners, including GEAPP, to accelerate progress on Mission 300 and strengthen Nigeria’s clean energy transition.
“We are moving in the right direction in partnership with the Ministry of Finance but are still seeking collaborations that can drive faster implementation,” the Minister added.
Both parties reiterated their commitment to continued collaboration on the implementation of the Mission 300 initiative.
