REA, Partners Launch Forum to Coordinate Clean Energy Ecosystem - THISDAYLIVE

The Rural Electrification Agency (REA), in collaboration with development partners, industry groups and other key stakeholders, has launched a new coordination forum aimed at eliminating duplication, improving investment alignment and accelerating the development of Nigeria’s off-grid and clean energy ecosystem.

At the event, the agency specifically recognised the support and collaboration of UK PACT, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Beckaphyl and the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA).

It also lauded the roles played by SNV, Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS), and Murty International, whose collective engagement, it said, contributed significantly to efforts to strengthen coordination and deepen the development of Nigeria’s off-grid market.

The Off-Grid Stakeholder Coordination Forum, launched in Abuja under the theme: “Repositioning Sector Coordination for Strategic Growth, Partnership and Delivery,” brings together government institutions, state governments, development partners, financiers, private-sector operators, industry associations and civil society organisations involved in Nigeria’s decentralised energy market.

The initiative is being driven by the growing scale and complexity of interventions in the off-grid sector, with stakeholders increasingly implementing projects across communities through different institutions, funding arrangements and development programmes.

Speaking at the launch, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of REA, Abba Aliyu, said the forum was intended to provide a common coordination and alignment architecture for the sector without creating another layer of bureaucracy.

“The objective is not to create another layer of bureaucracy, but to provide a practical mechanism through which stakeholders can better understand who is doing what, where interventions are being deployed, what resources are available, and how different initiatives can be strategically aligned,” he stated.

Aliyu said stronger coordination would help eliminate duplication, improve institutional and operational efficiency and ensure that scarce resources were deployed more effectively.

He added that coordination was particularly important in preventing multiple programmes from targeting the same communities while other underserved locations remained without adequate interventions.

In his remarks, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, represented by the Chief of Staff, Federal Ministry of Power, Adedoyin Adelabu, reaffirmed the ministry’s commitment to providing policy guidance and supporting efforts to improve electricity access.

Tegbe described fragmentation as “the quiet tax every under-coordinated sector pays,” noting that it manifests in duplicated efforts, missed investment opportunities and slower delivery of electricity to Nigerians who need it most.

The forum is expected to operate as a continuous platform for shared intelligence, data exchange, joint problem-solving, partnership development and coordinated action, rather than as a one-off stakeholder engagement.

Through the platform, stakeholders will identify common challenges, share lessons and data, align priorities and develop partnerships aimed at moving successful interventions beyond individual projects towards scalable, sector-wide solutions.

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