Former Ekiti Governor Fayose assumes office as REA board chairman

Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose has formally accepted his appointment by President Bola Tinubu as Chairman of the Governing Board of the Rural Electrification Agency and has been officially inaugurated into the role.

The inauguration ceremony took place in Abuja on Friday, where the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, administered the oath of office to Fayose and other members of the agency’s governing board.

The development was announced in a statement released on Friday by Lere Olayinka, media aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.

The statement confirmed Fayose’s acceptance of the appointment and his formal inauguration as chairman of the REA governing board.

Also inaugurated were Alhaji Ahmadu Abubakar, Mr Ilyasu Makinta and three other members and non-executive directors, while Mr Abba Aliyu assumed office as the Managing Director of the agency.

Speaking after his inauguration, Fayose thanked President Tinubu for considering him and the other appointees worthy of serving on the board.

He said his immediate focus would be to help move the agency forward by providing the necessary political will and ensuring that its programmes receive the required funding.

“My mission in REA is to take the agency to greater heights by providing the needed political will,” Fayose said.

He promised to do everything possible to ensure that the agency secured the resources required to implement its short- and long-term programmes and expand electricity access across the country.

“Work has started in earnest; we are reaching out very fast and appealing to people to ensure the work is done.

“I want to use this window to assure Nigerians that your expectation about my appointment and my colleagues will not be dashed. We will give our best to achieve the Renewed Hope of President Tinubu for the country to be better for us all,” he said.

Fayose noted that many of the challenges confronting Nigeria’s power sector were concentrated at the grassroots, stressing that the REA’s responsibility went beyond simply providing electricity.

He said the board would also focus on ensuring that the impact of electricity access was felt by communities and the wider population.

He said, “The assignment given to us is beyond providing electricity but also looking at the population of the country who need to feel the impact of the energy.

“When this happens, the people will forever be indebted to the agency.”

Earlier, the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, said Nigeria’s electricity sector must shift its focus from measuring power generation to measuring the number of communities and people benefiting from electricity.

Tegbe stated this while inaugurating the REA governing board, describing the agency as a strategic institution within the country’s power sector architecture.

“We are moving from just counting kilowatts and megawatts to how many communities and people were powered in the country,” the minister said.

According to him, REA’s mandate goes beyond connecting communities to electricity, as each electrification project has implications for education, healthcare, agriculture, businesses and broader economic development.

“REA is fundamentally an institution for expanding opportunity.

“Every mini-grid inaugurated, every solar home system deployed, every market, school, primary healthcare centre, farm, or productive enterprise electrified represents an investment in human capital, economic inclusion, and national prosperity,” he said.

Tegbe said the agency’s role had become increasingly important as the Federal Government continued implementing the Electricity Act and reforms in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.

He described REA as a bridge between national electricity policy and grassroots development, saying its impact should be felt beyond major cities.

The minister said the agency must ensure that the benefits of power-sector reforms reach communities across the federation.

He said REA should serve as the bridge between national policy and grassroots impact by ensuring that “the benefits of power reforms are being felt across the country, not only in our major cities but also in the remotest communities across the federation.”

Tegbe said the constitution of the new board demonstrated Tinubu’s commitment to strengthening governance in government institutions and promoting accountability, strategic oversight and excellence in the public sector.

He said the board was assuming office at a critical period and urged its members to be guided by transparency, innovation, strategic thinking and a commitment to value for money.

According to him, the members were expected to provide clear policy direction, strengthen institutional governance and safeguard public resources.

He also urged the board to develop productive partnerships with development partners and the private sector to improve electricity access and ensure that REA remained a model public institution.

“Most importantly, I encourage you to continually ask one fundamental question whenever decisions come before the board: ‘How does this improve the lives and livelihoods of ordinary Nigerians?’

“If that question remains our compass, I have no doubt that the agency will continue to exceed expectations,” Tegbe said.

The Managing Director of REA, Abba Aliyu, also thanked President Tinubu for the opportunity to serve and pledged that the agency would continue working to expand electricity access to underserved and unserved communities.

He said the agency remained committed to ensuring that more Nigerians benefited from electricity through its various rural and off-grid electrification programmes.

The inauguration formally marks the commencement of the new board’s tenure, with Fayose expected to lead the governing board in providing strategic direction and oversight for the agency’s activities.

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