Who is Damilola Adegbite? The woman Buhari has charged with bringing power to Nigeria’s rural areas

Damilola Adegbite

by Mark Amaza

A week ago, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the appointment of a new board and executive management for the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), which was also inaugurated today, with Mrs. Damilola Adegbite as the Managing Director.

She becomes the first woman to head the federal agency tasked with bringing electricity to rural areas, an important job in a country with only about half of it connected to the national grid, meaning the bulk of areas without electricity are the rural areas.

Prior to this appointment, she was the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power and the Head of his Power Advisory Team. Her mandate was to successfully implement the Power Sector Recovery Program and Energizing Education which will provide independent power.

Her track record at her previous job as the General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board (LSEB) – again, the first female to head the agency which is charged with public lighting, independent power projects and energy development in the state gave her the necessary qualifications for the role.

Under her leadership, five independent power projects were completed in record time to deliver over 50MW of much-needed, stable power to Lagos State Hospitals, Schools, Streetlights and the entire seat of Government at Alausa, Lagos.

In renewable energy, she completed the first ever 5MW solar project in over 213 locations within schools and clinics in Lagos State.

Mrs. Adegbite also instituted the first-ever online household energy calculator in Nigeria, and championed the energy conservation campaign across Lagos and also implemented the first-ever state-wide energy audit program.

In addition to that, Mrs. Adegbite maintains a keen interest in mentoring and empowering children and young people. She created the Lagos Energy Academy, which is fully operational and in partnership with Siemens.

She also has experience in the private sector as a consultant for the United Kingdom Department for International Development (UK DFID). She also worked as senior project manager for one of the top ten construction project management firms in the United Kingdom (Mace International) and holds an MSc in Construction Management and Infrastructure Development.

Her first public service role as the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) with a focus on power sector development under former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, who is now the Minister for Power, Works and Housing.

Her experience with renewable energy projects will hopefully chart a new direction in the approach that the REA has been taking towards rural electrification, which is connecting rural areas to the National Grid.

However, that approach is very expensive and puts a strain on an already over-burdened national grid that is in desperate need for expansion. This has led some to call for the REA to be charged with employing renewable energy to achieve total rural electrification. This will also go a long way in reducing Nigeria’s carbon emissions as we try to meet our energy demand.

If the REA heeds this call, then Mrs. Adegbite will be an excellent candidate to enable it achieve its objective.

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