By Moses Patience Chat
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oando Clean Energy Limited (OCEL) to boost access to renewable energy sources in Nigeria.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by Mukhtar Ibrahim, the Acting Director of Promotions at REA, where he noted that the MoU was aimed at improving collaboration between the private sector and government agencies.
Ibrahim said the signing of the MoU was an offshoot of the recently held ‘Solar Power Naija’ (SPN) Investor Matchmaking Event, and that the collaboration between the two agencies marked the beginning of another timely and strategic partnership targeted at exploring new approaches to clean energy development for socio-economic impact in the post-subsidy era.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Salihijo Ahmad, Managing Director (MD) of the Agency, said that the best way to reduce the effects of subsidy removal was through the exploitation of opportunities to optimize the critical role of renewable energy.
Ahmad said the REA-Oando partnership is a mutually beneficial one that would bring about an exchange of knowledge and experiences, which is targeted at achieving the common goal of optimizing renewable energy.
He commended REA for its commitment to understanding and leveraging the role of the private sector players to deliver on the task of sustainable energy access across the country.
On his part, Alex Irune, president of OCEL said the Company was keen on renewable energy and excited about the opportunity to create value that the country needs. He expressed confidence in the collaboration with REA and commended them for their achievements over the years.