‘EEP’ll assist varsities resolve epileptic power crisis’

From Uche Usim, Abuja

Following decades of epileptic power supply in federal oniversities and teaching hospitals across the country, the Federal Government came up with Energising Education Programme (EEP) in 2016 as a panacea to the perennial energy supply crisis and the attendant loss of billions of naira spent yearly to diesel-powered generators.
According to the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, the EEP is one of the strategies designed to achieve energy sufficiency under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (EGRP) programme of the government. He said the EEP is to be implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), since the policy has a long term objective of rural electrification.
Speaking at a recent forum in Abuja, the Minister said tremendous progress has been recorded in the EEP, even as he reiterated that access to uninterrupted power supply in federal universities and university teaching hospitals in Nigeria has remained a major challenge and barrier to effective learning, institutional operations and student residency.  He said: “In dealing with this, the EEP is to  provide off grid captive power plants for 37 federal universities and seven university teaching hospitals across the six geo-political zones. The programme will also provide street lights to ensure safety for students, staff and visitors of the institutions; rehabilitate, strengthen and extend the existing distribution networks; develop and operate training centres to train and certify students in courses related to renewable energy; and distribute power to surrounding communities in the second tier of each phase as a strategy for rural electrification, subsequently resulting in an increase of economic activity within those communities and general well being,” the Minister explained.
He added that EEP also ensures Nigeria adheres to its obligations under the Paris Agreement, through the promotion of renewable and cleaner energy technology, towards reduction of hazardous emissions.
From the programme design, the EEP Phase 1 Projects will be financed by the Federal Government and this follows energy audits that were conducted for all the federal universities and the adjoining university teaching hospitals across the country to determine the energy consumption and future load growth of each of the institutions.
The results derived from the audits were used to develop the business case and subsequent Standard Bidding Documents (SBD) for the procurement of goods, works and services required for the EEP.
The energy audits also revealed a total population of 224,800 across the Phase 1 universities, thereby further justifying the necessity of the EEP Phase 1 Projects. The significant number indicates the number of residents, students and staff that will be positively impacted, as it relates to well-being, security, quality of learning and services provided and overall socio-economic development of the country.