More tertiary institutions get solar minigrid
With the Federal Government’s approval of N68.7bn for a Solar Minigrid Electricity Project for eight of its universities and a teaching hospital, these institutions can be hopeful of more stable and affordable power supply on their campuses.
Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, disclosed this after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
The beneficiary universities are: University of Benin, Benin; University of Lagos, Lagos; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Others are Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife; Federal University, Dutse, and Federal University, Wukari.
“This initiative aims to ease the energy cost burden on universities and hospitals by providing reliable, good-quality electricity”, the minister said adding that “The lack of stable power supply has created crises in some schools and hospitals, with institutions unable to afford local electricity.”
As the minister noted, epileptic power supply has created a lot of problems on many university campuses, especially for those of them on Band A that have had to contend with more than triple the monthly electricity bills they used to pay since last year when the new tariff structure began.
Band A electricity consumers in the country had their tariffs adjusted from the previous N68/KWh to N225/kWh last year. They are are to have at least 20 hours of power supply per day.
While this may be a fair deal for the universities in terms of the hours of light they have per day, the tariff is not pocket-friendly.
For Ahmadu Bello University, its electricity bill jumped from N1.2 bn to N4.4 bn per annum; that of the University of Ilorin rose from N70 million to N230m monthly, and N840m to N2.7bn, respectively, per annum. University of Jos’s electricity bill jumped from N25m to N30m to N80m every month; that translates to about N960m annually.
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The situation in other universities is not significantly different, that is for those on Band A.
This compelled some of the institutions to devise survival strategies, taking energy-saving measures to reduce power consumption and mitigate the financial impact of rising tariffs on their budgets.
But nothing compares to the option Energising Education Programme, led by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) that the Federal Government has brought in to change the narrative.
It is therefore not surprising that the institutions are excited about it and have commended the government for the initiative, which is expected to be a game changer on the campuses; at least as far as power supply is concerned.
It is significant that the eight new beneficiary-institutions are the second batch to benefit under the scheme. Other universities that similar renewable energy projects have already been implemented, with support from the World Bank, are University of Abuja, Abuja, and Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (8 MW).
Others are the Nigerian Defence Academy (2.6MW) and the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, which also uses solar power.
Stable power supply is sine qua non in our tertiary institutions as in other places, to enable them function optimally.
With this latest initiative, the Federal Government has taken a major step towards addressing this critical area of need of the institutions. We can only plead with it to expedite release of funds to facilitate completion of the projects, and also ensure proper supervision to ensure that money allocated is judiciously spent.
This is the only way to make the initiative go round the federal tertiary institutions.
Moreover, regular maintenance is key to the durability of these facilities. Lack of good maintenance culture is a major problem of public institutions in the country.
With these alternative power sources for the tertiary institutions, the Bola Tinubu administration has fulfilled a major campaign promise of up-scaling tertiary education in the country through targeted funding of pressing needs.
The universities must do their part to sustain them.
State governments and other proprietors of universities and other tertiary institutions desirous of cutting their power cost should emulate this example of the Federal Government.
