Nigerian govt agencies to unlock $25bn revenue through electricity, digital development

Two Nigerian government agencies, the Galaxy Backbone and the Rural Electrification Agency, have signed a partnership to provide electricity and digital connectivity to schools, hospitals, and other public institutions across the country.

This comes as the federal government agencies said the initiative is expected to help unlock $25 billion in revenue annually associated with the lack of electricity and other infrastructural development in Nigeria.

This was made known during a Memorandum of Understanding signing event in Abuja on Friday.

Speaking on the partnership, the Managing Director of GBB, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanyu, said it would ensure effectiveness in government services to Nigerians.

He explained that the collaboration will ensure that hospitals, universities, security outfits, and government institutions have access to electricity and digital connectivity.

“We are going to target public institutions to make them more efficient and reduce the cost of governance.

Already, we are looking at starting with a number of federal institutions within Abuja, including the National Hospital and some security outfit institutions within Abuja, and we would like to work this infrastructure deployment to get out of Galaxy Backbone, Abuja.

“Imagine providing access to the internet and electricity to the lowest micro-level of the sub-national, the local government level. Imagine how we would transform local government administration. And this is very much also in line with Mr. President, where the roles and responsibilities of local government have been brought back to make them more effective and to make sure that governance has gone down to the community level,” he stated.

On his part, the Managing Director of REA, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, said the MoU is an effort by President Bola Ahmed to drive inclusive development in Nigeria.