The Federal Government cannot fund the electrification of rural communities across Nigeria alone as it lacks the financial capacity to do so at the moment, the Rural Electrification Agency has said.

Managing Director, REA, Ahmad Salihijo, said this in Abuja at the REA-National Assembly Workshop on rural electrification programme which focused on legislation, implementation and sustainability.

In his address at the workshop, which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja on Sunday by the REA, Salihijo said the agency would not depend solely on government funding but would involve the private sector in achieving its target.

He said, “What we realised is that if we depend solely on government funding, we are not going to reach the 80 million Nigerians who do not have access to electricity.

“In the past few years, the private sector has taken interest in investing in power. So what we try to do is to promote a sustainable market that that allows the private sector to come in.”

He said the REA was looking forward to having a robust budget to allow the agency carry out its rural electrification programme, adding that about $2.5bn would be needed to power the 80 million people without access to electricity.