Afikpo, the second largest city in Ebonyi State is set to benefit from a ground-breaking public private partnership venture that is expected to supply electricity to over 30, 000 homes in under-served communities in Ebonyi State.
The programme, a partnership between the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and Lotus Bank is a landmark N100 billion project that is aimed at providing electricity for communities currently without electricity across Nigeria.
As part of the programme, Ventura Logistics Services has secured N7.4 billion in financing to deploy renewable energy infrastructure across eight key sites in Ebonyi State.
This funding, backed by the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) Program’s Performance-Based Grant (PBG) framework, marks the first major drawdown from the Lotus Bank facility.
The investment is planned to deliver approximately 7-MW of renewable power, a move projected to transform the socio-economic landscape for over 30,000 households and businesses in the marked areas.
In media engaement by the REA, the deployment will reach cover communitiesin Ohaozara Local Government Area, including Okposi, Mebiokpa, and Obiozara; Ebunwana in Edda Local government area, as well as Afikpo in Afikpo North LGA.
The project will also be extended to Iboko in the Izzi Local government area of the state.
Reacting to the speed of the deployment, the managing director of the REA, Abba Aliyu, emphasized that this milestone is evidence that the agency is actively working on partnerships that deliver real and tangible results to Nigerians.
According to Aliyu, this specific project stands as a prime example of how strategic alignment can yield immediate benefits for the public.
The rapid onboarding of Ventura Logistics is being credited to the disciplined structure of the DARES framework.
By utilising a performance-based model, the program provides the transparency and confidence in outcomes that commercial lenders like Lotus Bank require to commit capital to the renewable sector.
Afikpo, despite its strategic place in Ebonyi State has remained without public power supply for over 10 years. Successive governments and politicians in Ebonyi State have paid lip service to the issue of power supply in the state.
Ebonyi remains perhaps the only state in Nigeria with several local government completely shutout of Nigeria’s national electricity grid.
It is expected that the deployment of renewable energy will help revamp businesses across the state and improve the standard of living of the people of the state.