The Federal Government has declared that electricity must go beyond lighting homes and become a major driver of wealth creation, agriculture and rural industrialisation across the country.
The Minister of Power made the declaration on Thursday at the National Stakeholders’ Engagement Workshop on Productive Use of Energy (PUE) in Abuja, saying President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is repositioning the power sector to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and boost food production.
The workshop, organised by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), focused on policy alignment, market readiness and the deployment of energy-efficient equipment for agriculture.
The minister said Nigeria should no longer measure the success of its electricity sector by the number of megawatts generated or communities connected to the national grid.
Instead, he said the real impact of power should be seen in its ability to help farmers irrigate more land, power agro-processing businesses, preserve farm produce through cold storage and reduce post-harvest losses.
“Electricity, by itself, does not transform an economy. Electricity becomes transformational only when it powers productivity,” the minister said.
He described the Productive Use of Energy initiative as a key strategy for linking electricity with agriculture, industrialisation, food security, rural development, financial inclusion and climate resilience.
The minister lamented that despite Nigeria’s huge agricultural potential, poor energy infrastructure continues to rob farmers of profits due to inadequate processing facilities, limited cold storage and high production costs.
He said expanding access to productive-use energy technologies would increase farmers’ incomes, reduce operating costs, attract investments and strengthen the entire agricultural value chain.
He added that the initiative would also open new opportunities for banks to finance productive assets while creating a larger market for manufacturers of energy-efficient equipment.
The minister commended the Rural Electrification Agency, the ECOWAS Commission, the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP), development partners and other stakeholders for supporting the initiative.
He urged participants to come up with practical recommendations that would attract investment, strengthen partnerships and fast-track the deployment of productive-use energy technologies across rural Nigeria.
According to him, the Federal Government remains committed to ensuring that electricity supplied to rural communities translates into greater prosperity, enterprise development and sustainable economic growth.
