Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed that five million solar home connections would benefit 25 million Nigerians.
He shared this while commissioning the 100,000 Solar Home System in the Jangefe Community in Jigawa State.
He said that the project, which would be funded by beneficiaries, has been estimated to amount to N140 billion.
Osinbajo explained that the project would create jobs for thousands of Nigerians: those who would manufacture, those who would assemble the solar systems, and those who will install and maintain them.
He said, “Another challenge which became an opportunity for us was the Covid-19 and our response to that which as many knows was Economic Sustainability Plan.
“The president’s vision around that plan was that rather than have situations where people lose jobs and opportunities; we could take the opportunities of Covid-19 to create more jobs.
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“We could take the opportunities of the economic fallout to create more opportunities for the Nigerian people.
“So the president approved that we should do these five million solar home connections across the country which would mean that 25 million Nigerians would have power.
“But not just that, there will be jobs around those who will manufacture, those who will assemble the solar systems, those who will install them will have jobs, those who will maintain them will have jobs and those who will also supply the payment systems and maintain the payment systems will also have jobs.
“The power provided is not free but we have put in place structures to make sure that the connections are affordable to all those who will use it.”