The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, has called for closer collaboration between the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) and the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to ensure the realisation of President Bola Tinubu’s vision for the power sector.
Adelabu made the call during a meeting with the management of the ECN in Abuja, saying the President is committed to getting the power sector back on track and supporting growth across other sectors of the economy.
He challenged the two agencies to develop strategies for enhancing local production of electricity components to reduce import dependence and conserve foreign exchange.
According to him, such synergy will involve research, data sharing and improved planning.
“The ECN and the REA need to synergise. They must come together, share research and build data that will help the sector in local production of electricity components,” Adelabu said.
He added that boosting local manufacturing of meters and other critical inputs would please the President, noting that Nigeria’s exports are now growing faster than imports, a trend that must be encouraged to conserve foreign exchange.
The minister disclosed that the ministry plans to establish a central data pool for the power sector and directed ECN to be part of the process.
He said the absence of reliable data remains a major challenge to accurate sector planning.
Adelabu further announced that ECN would now be part of the Power Sector Working Group, which meets quarterly, stressing that research and collaboration with the ministry’s research department would be critical to effective planning.
In his response, the Director-General of ECN, Dr Mustapha Abdullahi, expressed the agency’s readiness to work closely with the ministry to achieve President Tinubu’s vision of turning around the nation’s power sector and broader economy.
