President-elect Bola Tinubu has been encouraged by the Association of Rural Electrification Contractors of Nigeria (ARECON) to give electricity projects and the issues facing the industry more attention.
The group made the request in a statement released on Wednesday and signed by Rotimi Raheem, ARECON’s spokesman. Mr. Raheem denied rumors of suspected wrongdoing by Ahmad-Salihijo Ahmad, managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), and said that claims of conflicts of interest were untrue.
He said that since 2020, ARECON had operated differently in the electrical sector thanks to a five-year plan document that has improved REA’s internal operations.
The organization was founded to be in line with the goals of the federal government regarding project delivery, according to Mr. Raheem, who said that ARECON has constantly improved REA project delivery vehicles.He claims that ARECON has constantly provided REA with clean and sustainable energy infrastructure across the country under the control of the power ministry.
He said that Mr. Ahmad had recently been the target of fraud and conflict of interest claims.He said that ARECON portrayed these endeavors as adversaries’ attempts to damage the reputation of the MD of REA.
He went on to say that the REA boss had also referred to a complaint made against him to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) by Donnington Nigeria Limited as false and defamatory. The complaint claimed that the REA boss was simultaneously serving as the MD/CEO of the organization and as a director of Velocity Logistics and Marine Services Ltd.
According to Mr. Raheem, in 2022, REA will have installed a standalone solar household system for better energy access throughout Nigeria, officially surpassing the one million connection milestone.According to him, the SHS for homes and MSMEs component of the Nigeria Economy Power (NEP) was designed to make improved energy services more accessible to millions of households and MSMEs at a reasonable price. “The intended beneficiaries are those who live off the grid or are underserved clients with inconsistent and inefficient access to electricity.
According to Mr. Raheem, “ARECON also thinks that it is crucial for paid elements to refrain from making unfounded accusations against the MD of REA in order to maintain the pace of the realization of sustainable electricity across Nigeria as REA continues its vision and mandate of universal access to affordable electricity.
