The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has unveiled plans to execute over 500 electrification projects in the 2026 fiscal year from the N170 billion budget proposal aimed at expanding power supply to public institutions and underserved rural communities nationwide.
The agency’s Managing Director, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, gave this hint during a chat with journalists on the sidelines of the 2026 budget defence session organised on Friday by the House Committee on Rural Electrification in Abuja.
According to him, the agency’s total budget proposal for 2026 stands at N170 billion, out of which N100 billion had been approved for the National Public Sector Solarisation Initiative, a programme designed to provide sustainable and cost-effective electricity to public institutions.
Aliyu explained that the allocation would facilitate the agency’s deployment of hybrid mini-grids for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and some states, thereby reducing the current over-dependence on the national grid and reducing cost of energy in the public sector.
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The REA boss, who cited the National Hospital Abuja to justify his position, noted that solar-based infrastructure has already been deployed to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply, significantly lowering operational costs while improving service delivery.
Speaking further on the agency’s planned interventions in the energy investments this year, the industry expert explained that the REA’s 2026 budget captured sundry projects aimed at providing energy needs of different communities.
Aliyu maintained that majority of the projects involved grid extension to communities located near existing power infrastructure, adding that in such cases, the agency will extend distribution lines and install transformers to connect households and businesses to the national grid.
He said that for agrarian settlements and communities with cottage industries, the REA planned to deploy renewable-powered mini-grids to stimulate economic productivity, including agricultural processing clusters to enhance value addition, reduce post-harvest losses and support rural enterprise development.
This is even as he disclosed that in less populated and hard-to-reach areas, the REA intended to deploy solar home systems to provide standalone renewable electricity to households that are not cost-efficient for grid or mini-grid connectivity.
Aliyu expatiated: “What we presented to the National Assembly are the comprehensive details of these over 500 projects scheduled for execution in 2026.”
Recalling the agency’s budget performance in 2024, he said it achieved an 85% capital budget implementation but that due to low capital budget releases in 2025, the REA had so far achieved 32% of the capital budget performance for 2025 fiscal year, expressing optimism that implementation would improve as additional funds are released.
Speaking earlier during the budget defence session, the Chairman of the House Committee on Rural Electrification, Hon. Mohammed Bukar, said the committee was satisfied with the REA’s submissions after detailed scrutiny.
The lawmaker noted that the agency made some progress during the year in expanding access to electricity through off-grid and renewable energy projects’ execution in rural communities, federal institutions and public sector establishments.
Bukar commended the agency’s compliance with procurement regulations, fiduciary safeguards and development partner frameworks guiding its operations, stressing that the committee will conduct oversight visits to project sites for the purposes of verifying claims by the REA’s management on their levels of execution..
He said: “Legislative oversight is a critical pillar of accountability, and we will continue to ensure that the Rural Electrification Agency remains aligned with its statutory mandate and national development priorities.
“However, at this stage, we are satisfied that the agency is operating within its mandate and delivering tangible impact. We encourage the agency to sustain this momentum as Nigeria advances its rural electrification and energy transition objectives”, the committee chairman added.
