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Nigeria’s renewable energy sector creates just 76,000 jobs despite $2bn investment – REA – EnviroNews
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Nigeria’s renewable energy industry has created only about 76,000 jobs despite attracting more than $2 billion in investments, highlighting a significant gap in local workforce participation that the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) says must be urgently addressed.
Speaking at the 2026 Oriental News Conference in Lagos on Thursday, July 23, 2026, REA Managing Director, Dr. Abba Aliyu, said Nigeria’s clean energy transition would remain unsustainable if it continued to depend heavily on imported technologies and foreign expertise.
Aliyu, represented by the agency’s Executive Director of Corporate Services, Gboyega Ayoade, contrasted Nigeria’s employment figures with the global solar industry, which supports about 16.2 million jobs worldwide.
He stressed that the country must deliberately build domestic capacity in renewable energy through local manufacturing, assembly, installation, operations, maintenance, recycling, and skills development.
“As renewable energy deployment expands, local capacity must grow alongside it,” he said. “Clean energy should not only provide electricity but also create jobs, strengthen local industries, and build domestic technical expertise.”
According to him, every major renewable energy project should be evaluated not only by the electricity it delivers but also by the economic value it creates for Nigerians. Such projects, he said, should generate employment opportunities for local engineers and technicians, encourage the use of indigenous installers, stimulate demand for locally assembled components, strengthen supply chains, and promote technology transfer.
Aliyu explained that this approach aligns with the Federal Government’s Nigeria First policy, which seeks to maximize local content and industrial development through public investments.
He disclosed that the REA is restructuring its programmes to support domestic manufacturing by creating predictable market demand that will encourage investors to establish local production facilities.
“Large-scale renewable energy deployment creates demand, demand attracts manufacturers, manufacturing creates jobs, and stronger local supply chains ultimately reduce costs,” he said.
The REA boss identified public sector solarisation projects, mini-grids, agricultural energy hubs, and institutional electrification programmes as potential anchor markets capable of driving local renewable energy manufacturing rather than serving solely as electrification initiatives.
Aliyu also pointed to inadequate project preparation as one of the biggest obstacles limiting investment in Nigeria’s renewable energy sector.
He noted that many projects struggle to secure financing because they lack robust feasibility studies, credible revenue models, comprehensive demand assessments, effective risk allocation, and strong environmental and social safeguards.
“The major challenge is not the availability of investment capital but project bankability,” he said, adding that investors require confidence that projects are technically sound, financially viable, and backed by credible institutions.
To address these constraints, he said the REA is collaborating with development partners, financial institutions, and private developers to improve project preparation and financing structures through performance-based grants, blended finance, public-private partnerships, demand aggregation, minimum subsidy frameworks, and green finance initiatives.
Speaking on the theme, Driving Nigeria’s Decarbonisation through Strategic Promotion of Clean Energy – The REA Experience, Aliyu argued that Nigeria’s decarbonisation agenda should extend beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
According to him, the country’s energy transition must also promote industrialisation, economic competitiveness, energy security, climate resilience, technological innovation, and inclusive economic growth.
“For Nigeria, decarbonisation is not simply about cutting emissions,” he said. “It is about expanding access to electricity, strengthening industries, attracting investment, and creating economic opportunities while pursuing climate objectives.”
He maintained that achieving these goals would require coordinated reforms across the energy, finance, environmental, industrial, and investment sectors.
Aliyu emphasized that regulations must evolve to support innovations such as mini-grids, embedded generation, energy storage, net metering, wheeling, and distributed energy resources while maintaining consumer protection and market stability.
He also called for stronger regulatory frameworks governing emissions management, carbon capture, gas flaring reduction, sustainable finance, and environmental reporting within Nigeria’s extractive industries.
Acknowledging Nigeria’s development challenges, Aliyu said the country’s decarbonisation strategy must reflect the realities of a rapidly growing population, increasing electricity demand, infrastructure deficits, and millions of citizens who still lack access to reliable power.
“The challenge before Nigeria is to expand energy access, industrialise, grow the economy, and reduce emissions simultaneously,” he stated.
He described decentralised renewable energy systems as essential to achieving that balance, noting that they can power hospitals, schools, markets, farms, businesses, and rural communities that remain beyond the reach of the national grid.
Beyond environmental benefits, he said clean energy presents significant opportunities for economic diversification by creating industries around solar technologies, battery storage, metering, digital monitoring systems, equipment installation, maintenance services, and local manufacturing.
Aliyu highlighted several REA initiatives driving this transition, including the Nigeria Electrification Project, the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up Programme, the Energizing Education Programme, the National Public Sector Solarisation Initiative, as well as multiple mini-grid and agricultural energy projects.
He said these programmes demonstrate that renewable energy can be deployed successfully at scale through private-sector-led models supported by effective government policies.
Aliyu concluded by calling for stronger collaboration among government agencies, regulators, financial institutions, private investors, development partners, the extractive industry, and the media to accelerate Nigeria’s clean energy transition.
He commended Oriental News Nigeria for convening the conference, noting that the media has a vital responsibility not only to report developments in the energy sector but also to foster informed public discourse and strengthen accountability.
