The Federal Government has established an Off-Grid Sector Coordination Secretariat to track commitments, manage risks and eliminate duplication in electricity projects across the power sector.
Gatekeepers News reports that Joseph Tegbe, Minister of Power, announced this on Monday in Abuja at the relaunch of the Off-Grid Stakeholder Coordination and Partnership Forum, organised by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Delivering his keynote address, Tegbe, represented by Doyin Adelabu, his Chief of Staff, said fragmentation remained a major obstacle to accelerating electricity access across the country.
“Fragmentation is the quiet tax every under-coordinated sector pays: in duplicated effort, missed investment opportunities, and slower delivery of power to the Nigerians who need it most,” he said.
Tegbe said the secretariat would convene issue-based working groups and generate shared market intelligence to improve coordination among stakeholders in the off-grid electricity sector.
He urged development partners, financiers, private operators, state governments and civil society organisations to nominate focal persons, share data and actively participate in the coordination process.
The minister said the Ministry of Power would continue to provide policy direction through the National Electrification Strategy and Implementation Plan while supporting state electricity markets under the Electricity Act.
REA Seeks Centralised Platform to Improve Project Coordination
Also speaking at the forum, Abba Aliyu, Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, said a centralised platform was necessary to help stakeholders identify existing projects and allocate resources more efficiently.
“As Nigeria’s off-grid energy sector continues to expand in scale, investment, and institutional participation, there is an increasing need to establish an Off-Grid Sector Coordination Secretariat that will provide a structured platform for alignment across government institutions, development partners, private-sector operators, and other stakeholders,” he said.
Aliyu said the secretariat would strengthen coordination throughout the project lifecycle, from planning and development to financing and implementation.
He added that the platform would promote information sharing, harmonise interventions and align investments with national and subnational electrification priorities.
“This will help eliminate duplication of efforts, reduce institutional and operational inefficiencies, improve the allocation of scarce resources, and ensure that multiple programs do not inadvertently target the same communities while other underserved areas remain unattended,” he said.
Stakeholders Urged to Focus on Productive Use of Electricity
In his remarks, Ikenna-Donald Ofoegbu, a representative of Heinrich Böll Stiftung Nigeria, urged stakeholders to look beyond electricity connection figures when assessing the success of off-grid power projects.
“For many years, we measured success largely by the number of mini-grids installed, solar home systems deployed, or connections delivered,” he said.
“These indicators remain important. But the next phase requires us to ask a more consequential question: What happens after the connection?”
Ofoegbu called for a strategic shift “from successful interventions to scale; from connections to productive use; from donor-supported projects to investable markets; and from individual programmes to a coordinated national ecosystem”.
The forum was attended by key partners, including the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Nigerian Energy Support Programme, UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT), SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, Global Off-Grid Lighting Association and Murty International Ltd.
