How REA’s mini-grids are helping Tinubu’s push for a $1 trillion economy

By Victor Idajili

For years, unreliable electricity has held back Nigeria’s economic growth. In rural and peri-urban areas, businesses and homes relied on expensive, polluting generators or went without power entirely. 

That’s changing. Under President Bola Tinubu’s third year in office, the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is rolling out decentralized solar mini-grids that are bringing reliable power to the “last mile” and powering the government’s $1 trillion economy goal.

REA used to make headlines for corruption, inflated contracts, and abandoned projects. Today, the agency runs on transparency. Under Managing Director Dr. Abba Aliyu, REA now uses digital platforms like the Project Monitoring and Performance Hub and the Nigeria SE4ALL web portal, plus IoT tracking with partners like Odyssey. 

The result: real-time data on power generated and communities connected. Donor funds are only released after verified results, which has cut out ghost projects and rebuilt trust.

The shift is also industrial. Nigeria’s local solar panel production capacity has jumped from 120MW to about 300MW, with another 3.7GW in the pipeline. Panels made in Lagos are already being exported to Accra and other West African cities.

Regulation helped. NERC’s updated Mini-Grid Regulations now allow interconnected mini-grids up to 10MW and spell out how they connect to the national grid. The framework is one of the most investor-friendly in Africa and is being studied by countries like Mozambique, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The centerpiece is DARES — the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-Up programme. At $750 million in public funding, it’s the largest publicly funded renewable energy access project globally. It’s designed to attract $1.1 billion in private investment through results-based financing: developers put up their own capital first, then unlock incentives after delivering working infrastructure.

Targets are aggressive: power for 17.5 million Nigerians, 2.5 million households, and 1,350 mini-grids including 250 interconnected systems. Right now, over 1,000 mini-grids are under development, plus 48 interconnected mini-grids that will add 288MW of clean power with 11 distribution companies.

REA is also unlocking private money through partnerships with FCMB, Lotus Bank, and the IFC.

Mini-grids are doing more than lighting homes. They’re hitting three key parts of the CBN’s $1 trillion economy plan.

 Solar power runs mills, irrigation pumps, and cold storage in farming hubs. That cuts post-harvest losses and shifts subsistence farming to commercial scale, boosting rural GDP.

 Small businesses like salons, welders, tailors, and clinics spend less on diesel. Cheaper, predictable solar power frees up cash for expansion and hiring.

 10MW mini-grids let Nigeria sell excess power to border communities in West Africa. That creates new forex earnings and strengthens the naira.

REA also signed a $700,000 MoU with ECOWAS to electrify health centers and 15 public universities in the FCT, Niger, and Nasarawa. Work is already underway at places like FUTA, Akure.

REA’s mini-grids have moved beyond basic welfare. By taking power to communities the national grid couldn’t reach, the agency is unlocking trapped economic potential. Less diesel, more production, more jobs — and infrastructure that can sustain itself after public funds run out.