The Federal Government says it is moving to take Nigerian universities off the national grid through the deployment of dedicated solar power systems, in a bid to provide more reliable electricity for learning, research and healthcare.
The Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, disclosed this during an interview on the Afropolitan Podcast, explaining that the initiative is being implemented under the Energising Education Programme of the Rural Electrification Agency.
Alausa said frequent power outages and rising electricity costs have continued to affect teaching, research and living conditions across university campuses.
According to him, the government is providing dedicated solar mini-grids to universities to ensure campuses have a more stable and dependable power supply.
He explained that reliable electricity would allow students to study at night, laboratories to operate without interruptions and university hospitals to provide services without excessive dependence on expensive diesel generators.
“We are taking our campuses off the national grid with dedicated solar power. You cannot build a modern university system where students cannot read at night, laboratories lose power in the middle of experiments, and hospitals attached to our universities are forced to run on noisy, expensive diesel generators,” he said.
The minister also noted that high electricity bills had placed significant financial pressure on universities, with funds that could have been invested in academic development being diverted to power costs.
He said the government’s focus is to provide clean and reliable energy that can support university operations continuously while reducing dependence on conventional power sources.
Alausa added that sustainable power for tertiary institutions forms part of the Federal Government’s broader strategy to strengthen human capital development and improve the global competitiveness of Nigerian universities.
To ensure the projects remain functional, he disclosed that the government had established the Renewable Energy Asset Management Company to manage and maintain the solar mini-grids.
“As Minister, I don’t just want to leave projects that will deteriorate after two years; we are aiming for sustainability that will last beyond my tenure,” he said.
The initiative is expected to give students better opportunities to study, support uninterrupted research and improve healthcare services on university campuses, while helping institutions reduce the financial burden associated with unreliable electricity and diesel-powered generators.
