The Federal Government has commissioned a 3MW captive solar hybrid power project at Yakubu Gowon University, Abuja, formerly the University of Abuja, as part of plans to provide universities with 24-hour electricity.
The Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said this at the project’s inauguration in Abuja, stating that the government plans to power all federal universities with solar energy and take them off the national grid.
He said the initiative would be implemented in phases until it covered universities across all regions.
‘We are going to phase four, and until we cover all the regions and take the universities off-grid and make sure they have a 24/7 power supply,’ Tegbe said.
The Yakubu Gowon University project is expected to strengthen electricity supply for nearly 40,000 students and more than 3,500 staff.
It will also support teaching, research, laboratory activities, digital services and other critical university operations.
The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) delivered the project under Phase II of the Energising Education Programme (EEP), implemented through the World Bank-funded Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP).
With almost 40,000 students, including more than 8,000 living on campus, and over 3,500 staff, the university has substantial electricity requirements across its academic, residential and administrative facilities.
The minister mandated the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to extend the solar connection to the student hostels of the Yakubu Gowon University in the next six months.
The Student Union Government President, Peculiar Iyamoh, had urged the government to extend the connection to the hostels.
Tegbe, however, stressed that the investment demonstrated the practical connection between Nigeria’s energy transition and human capital development.
‘There is perhaps no better place to demonstrate the practical value of Nigeria’s energy transition than a university,’ he said.
The minister added, ‘A university brings together everything that a modern energy system is expected to support: learning, research, healthcare, technology, administration and, increasingly, the digital infrastructure through which knowledge is created and shared.’
He said the facility would provide a more reliable energy base for teaching and research, stressing that its long-term performance would be the real measure of the investment.
‘The commissioning is not the conclusion of the investment. It is the beginning of its most important phase,’ he added.
Tegbe linked this focus on sustainability to the recently established Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO), which is intended to strengthen the long-term management and performance of renewable energy assets.
Managing Director/CEO of REA, Abba Aliyu, said the Energising Education Programme had grown beyond providing electricity infrastructure to demonstrating how energy investment can support education and human capital development.
‘When the Energising Education Programme was conceived, the ambition was straightforward: to change what reliable electricity could mean for Nigeria’s public universities. Not simply to put solar panels on campuses, but to create the conditions for students to learn, lecturers to teach, researchers to work, laboratories to function and universities to operate with greater certainty,’ Aliyu said.
Across the programme, REA said it has delivered renewable energy infrastructure to 22 federal universities and three affiliated teaching hospitals, deploying more than 100MW of clean energy and impacting over 600,000 students and 50,000 academic and administrative staff nationwide.
Aliyu said REA’s experience implementing projects at this scale had also reinforced the importance of planning for the entire life of an energy asset, from construction and commissioning to operation, maintenance and long-term performance.
‘We have become very good at asking, ‘How do we build more?’ We must now become equally rigorous about asking, ‘How do we protect what we have already built? How do we make it perform? And how do we preserve its value?” he said.
He said this experience contributed to the thinking behind RAMCO and would inform REA’s continuing efforts to develop models that attract private capital, expand electricity access and protect public investment.
Head of the Nigeria Electrification Project, Olufemi Akinyelure, said the project’s significance should be measured by the wider development opportunities reliable electricity creates.
‘Government may not be in the business of making profit, but it must always be in the business of making progress. And perhaps no public investment yields a greater return than investment in education because when we power a university, we do not merely light buildings; we illuminate minds, enable innovation and strengthen the future of our nation,’ Akinyelure said.
Vice-Chancellor of Yakubu Gowon University, Professor Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi, described the project as an investment in the university’s academic mission.
‘A university such as ours cannot teach effectively, conduct meaningful research, operate its laboratories, sustain digital services or even provide the conducive environment required for learning and innovation without dependable power supply,’ Fawehinmi said.
He said the project was helping strengthen electricity supply for a rapidly growing institution and assured partners that the university would ensure the facility was properly utilised and maintained.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, said the project demonstrated the connection between energy policy, effective implementation and tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
He said the legislature would continue to provide the legislative environment and oversight needed to support power-sector investment, strengthen accountability, and ensure projects deliver sustainable benefits.
‘Sustainability must therefore remain a priority,’ Abaribe said, stressing the importance of university ownership and appropriate arrangements for the operation, maintenance and protection of the facility throughout its useful life.
Beyond electricity supply, the project includes a Renewable Energy Workshop and Training Centre to support practical learning and skills development in renewable energy technologies. The EEP also includes a female STEM component that gives students practical exposure to renewable energy and opportunities within the sector.
The Yakubu Gowon University project was delivered through collaboration between the Federal Government, REA, the Nigeria Electrification Project, the World Bank, the university and EMONE Energy Solutions.
With the facility now commissioned, attention shifts to ensuring its long-term performance and translating more reliable electricity into better learning conditions, stronger research and greater opportunities for innovation.