President Bola Tinubu has appointed Abba Aliyu as the substantive Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency.
The appointment, effective from 23 January 2025, is for an initial term of four years, according to a State House release on Friday by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Until his appointment, Aliyu, who has over 20 years of experience in energy and organisational development in the private and public sectors, had been the agency’s acting MD.
‘He has played key leadership roles in the on-grid and off-grid power sectors, as well as the water resources and transportation sectors of Nigeria’s economy.
‘President Tinubu anticipates that Aliyu will leverage his extensive expertise to further the REA’s mission of providing rural communities with reliable electric power and contributing to the administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda on sustainable energy and power,’ the statement partly read.
Previously, Aliyu served as the Head, Project Management Unit, Nigeria Electrification Project; General Manager of Corporate Services, Projects, and Research, and Deputy General Manager at Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading PLC.
After his presentation on REA’s 2024 budget performance and projections in the 2025 Appropriation Bill, Aliyu identified the provision of solar-powered energy to public institutions as a key component of its agenda in the 2025 fiscal year.
‘What we did today is to present the 2025 budget proposal which is the biggest REA’s budget so far in the history of the country. The first key aspect of our 2025 budget is the National Public Sector Solarization Initiative, an initiative of President Bola Tinubu with a proposal of N100bn provided,’ he stated, among others.
While highlighting the key achievements of the agency in the past year, Aliyu said, ‘For the 2024 budget performance, REA implemented various aspects of work. Key among them was grid extension and the deployment of mini-grids for productive use, which specifically were chosen and deployed within agricultural areas.
‘We also carried out deployment of solar home systems. We did a substantial number of that deployment in 2024,’ he said.
