The Federal Government’s rural electricity initiative, Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria, is set to partner with one of the oil Majors in the country, Total Group.
Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, stated this when a team of Total Groupvisited him in Abuja.
He said the Group’s “Access to Energy” project was closely related to the government’s on-going pilot project “Operation Light-Up Rural Nigeria,” flagged off by President Goodluck Jonathan in January this year, in Durumi and Shape Communities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Heinformed that the pilot scheme was geared towards the provision of solar powered energy by government to households as well as street lights and energy hub centres to three communities not connected to the national grid.
“We are happy that children from these communities are no longer disenfranchised simply because they were born into these rural communities,” he said.
While commending Total Group for Access to Energy initiative, the Minister said his Ministry was prepared to work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), that would spell out all that needed to be done in making the project affordable to Nigerians.
He said he would liaise with his counterparts in the Ministry of Finance and other agencies of government to ensureimport duty waivers, tax breaks or any other incentive for maximum benefit accruable from the initiative.
He expressed the hope that with corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects like Total’s, more Nigerians not yet connected to the national grid would have abundant access to energy through solar powered source.
Earlier, the leader of the Group in Nigeria, Alain Champeau,appealed to the government to use its technical ability, purchasing power and logistical capability in making the product available to Nigerians.
He said the “Access to Energy” initiative of Total was geared towards making solar-powered energy available to people living in the local communities, assuring thatcapacity building and training of locals were ingredients already incorporated into the project.
