Vice-President Kashim Shettima, on Friday, urged the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to double its efforts towards ensuring increased access to electricity in the country.

Mr Shettima made the call when a delegation from REA, led by its managing director, Abba Aliyu, made a presentation on the National Electrification and Implementation Plan (NESIP) in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He granted REA’s request to enter into partnership with the National Economic Council (NEC) to have access to state governors and engage them in the drive towards electrifying communities across the country.

Mr Shettima, who is chairman of NEC, assured the delegation of maximum support from the council and the state governors.

“The most startling revelation of this presentation has to do with the correlation between access to electricity and financial inclusion.

” Hence, I believe our job is cut out for us, and I want to assure you that we are going to partner with your agency so that we can meet the aspiration of the Nigerian people for access to electricity,” he said.

The vice president commended the agency for its efforts at electrifying communities.

Mr Shettima, however, scored the agency low in publicity, adding that the agency had performed poorly in creating awareness and keeping Nigerians abreast with ongoing efforts to address the electricity deficit in the country.

”I am afraid you need to overhaul your public relations management team. People need to know; Nigerians ought to know.

“At one point in time, we were getting five megawatts from the grid for Borno state.

” Just one plant is generating 12 megawatts for the University of Maiduguri and the Teaching Hospital.

”But you have not been publicising your activities. So, I will ask you to look at your media team and see to it that you get the loudest decibel in the social media space and the traditional media,” he said.

Mr Shettima asked the management of REA to engage the special adviser to the president on NEC and climate change, Rukaiya El-Rufai, in order to make a formal presentation in one of the NEC meetings.

This, he said, was necessary “so that the governors too, who are very essential in our drive towards electrifying our communities, can have a buy-in from your submissions.”

Earlier, Mr Aliyu listed four main sources of funding for the agency, namely the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the electricity market.

He noted that before his appointment as the managing director of REA, he was heading the project management unit that was implementing a 550-million-dollar REA project funded by the World Bank and AfDB.

The REA boss said the agency secured another approval for another grant of 750 million dollars, explaining that the biggest public sector-funded project and implementation was about to commence.

He highlighted some of the electricity projects, including the 12 megawatts plant in Maiduguri, which will be completed and commissioned in the next two months.

Mr Aliyu added that the electricity project was serving the University of Maiduguri and the Teaching Hospital, and plans were ongoing to extend it to the water treatment plant in the state.

He further noted that the new management of the agency was focusing on six key strategic areas, including the National Electrification and Strategic Implementation Plan (NESIP).

According to him, the plan aligns with the government’s vision of sustainable and inclusive energy, and it streamlines the coordination between the sub-nationals towards the implementation of electrification across the country.

(NAN)