By Adewale Sanyaolu
As part of strategies of crash the rising cost of electricity, the Federal Government has announced plans to build mini grid power plants across select health and educational institutions.
The latest intervention was disclosed by the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu, on Friday, when he inspected the Advanced Solar Micro grid project, being built at the University of Abuja. The project is about 95 per cent completed.
He said the university solar project would be replicated in other universities, tertiary institutions and teaching hospitals across the country and it will shield those institutions from the high cost of electricity.
According to him, President Tinubu’s love and belief in education, as the bedrock of economic growth and industrial development, informed the decision to provide alternative sources of energy for the institutions.
“I am delighted to be here today to inspect this project. As you know, no critical sector can perform optimally without stability, functionality, reliability and affordability of energy. Energy is like the blood that every sector needs to perform optimally, which is the reason why President Tinubu has prioritise power as a sector, which will drive the other critical sectors.
“The backbone of economic growth and sustainable long time human capacity and human development lies on education, which is why we have focused on our tertiary institution and teaching hospital facilities, to ensure that they are shielded from the high cost of energy”, the minister said.
He also added that the solar project would reduce the reliance of the recipient institutions on the grid.
He announced that the project would be commissioned by President Tinubu in December.
The Acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Aisha Sani Maikudi, while welcoming the minister, informed him that the issue of electricity was a major challenge to the institution and the solar project would be a major relief to the entire university community.