Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has formally assumed office as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Rural Electrification Agency, following his inauguration by the Federal Government.
Fayose was inaugurated alongside other members of the board by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, during a ceremony in Abuja on Friday.
Other members inaugurated include Alhaji Ahmadu Abubakar and Ilyasu Makinta, while Abba Aliyu assumed office as the Managing Director of the agency.
Speaking after his inauguration, Fayose expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for appointing him and other members to serve on the board.
He said his priority would be to provide the leadership and political support needed to strengthen the agency and improve electricity access across Nigeria.
“My mission in REA is to take the agency to greater heights by providing the needed political will,” Fayose said.
The former governor also pledged to work towards securing the resources required for the implementation of the agency’s short- and long-term programmes.
He assured Nigerians that the new board would work to meet expectations and support the Federal Government’s electricity reform agenda.
“I want to use this window to assure Nigerians that your expectation about my appointment and my colleagues will not be dashed. We will give our best to achieve the Renewed Hope of President Tinubu for the country to be better for us all,” he said.
Fayose noted that many of the challenges affecting the power sector were experienced at the grassroots, stressing that rural electrification should not be limited to connecting communities to electricity.
According to him, the real objective should be to ensure that electricity access produces tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
“The assignment given to us is beyond providing electricity but also looking at the population of the country who need to feel the impact of the energy,” he said.
Earlier, the Minister of Power said the government was changing the way electricity-sector performance would be assessed, with greater emphasis on the number of communities and people benefiting from power projects.
Tegbe said the REA remained a strategic institution because its interventions could influence education, healthcare, agriculture, businesses and other areas of economic development.
“We are moving from just counting kilowatts and megawatts to how many communities and people were powered in the country,” the minister said.
He urged the new board to prioritise transparency, accountability, innovation and prudent management of public resources.
Tegbe also called for stronger collaboration between the agency, development partners and private-sector players to expand electricity access to underserved and unserved communities.
He said the board should always consider the impact of its decisions on ordinary Nigerians.
“How does this improve the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Nigerians? If that question remains our compass, I have no doubt that the agency will continue to exceed expectations,” he said.
The REA Managing Director, Abba Aliyu, thanked President Tinubu for the opportunity to serve and pledged that the agency would intensify efforts to extend electricity to communities that remain underserved or without access to the national grid.
The inauguration marks the beginning of the new board’s tenure and its responsibility for providing strategic oversight and direction for the agency’s rural and off-grid electrification programmes.
