Do not be apologetic in telling Nigeria story: VON DG
Chioma Eche, Abuja
The Director General, Voice of Nigeria, (VON) Mallam Jibrin Ndace says it is time for institutions to be intentional about telling the actual Nigerian story, stressing that Nigeria has suffered negative publicity and efforts must be made to change the narrative.
According to him, there is a need to close the gap of misinformation, disinformation and fake news, by creating positive narrative.
He stated this during a courtesy visit to the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
“Working with my team we want to be very deliberate and intentional in creating a positive narrative about Nigeria and Nigerians, about African and Africans, about institutions, so that we can close the gap of misinformation, disinformation and fake news
“We are not saying Nigeria is a perfect country, there’s no country in the world that is perfect, all of us have been around the world, even the most developed country has their own challenges
“So we cannot allow the spirit of why it is negative news that goes out of our country
“And why you travell maybe representing institution like REA, or as a private citizen, the way you are treated because of the perception that is created by 0, 45% of Nigerians either here or outside Nigeria is what shaped the narrative that built around us,” he said.
Mallam Jibrin Baba-Ndace reiterated his commitment stressing that institutions should not be apologetic in telling the Nigerian story the way it is.
“Whenever good things happen, if it is REA, the good things you are doing in the Rural Electrification Agency, let the world know
“For instance as bad as the situation in Kaduna and Sokoto States, let the world know, Let the world know that it was the effort of the President the Commander in Chief, the Chief of Defence and other security services that ensured that the kidnapped school children were rescued and brought back without no casualty, it is not only when story are bad that it should be shared.”
Mallam Jibrin Ndace further expressed his determination to change the narrative about Nigeria and its citizens from negative to positive.
He highlighted VON’s commitment, emphasizing that VON, across its diverse platforms, is ready and dedicated to showcasing the inspiring narratives of the REA activities across Nigeria in showcasing their achievments and to realise the goals and objectives of the present administration.
For his part, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Abubakar Aliyu, however, said that the agency is committed to its mandate of rolling out solar off-grid power solutions and grid extension to millions of unnerved and underserved Nigerians.
Mr Abubakar Aliyu disclosed that REA has critical partnerships with key Government counterparts and both national and international stakeholder on different multilateral agreements and funding to energize the Agency’s Projects across Nigeria.
He said the Agency is creating a digital plan to evaluate its activities stressing that issueb of electricity in Nigeria has become challenging.
“In Nigeria at this moment we have over 8.5 million Nigerians without electricity and this figure most of them live in the rural areas where is it very expensive to extend the national grid because they live in community that are populated or areas where the economic activities are not significant,” he explained.
The Managing Director stating the Angecy’s success story said, “We partner with a lot of international organization and you may wish to know that just recently the World bank approved additional funding of 750 million dollars for the REA intervention through a program called distribution Access through Renewable Energy.”
This, Mr. Aliyu, said the funding would scale-up the project, stating that this funds wouldn’t have been approved, if the Agency didn’t have a success story or good record track.
According to him, REA has established over 125 mini grid and 1.5 million solar home systems across the country.
“We are working about to complete the esblishment of high breed mini grid in some parts of Nigeria, from the Tertiary Universities to Teaching Hospitals, in fact we are inviting the Nigerian President, through the Minister of Power to start commissioning this projects soon
” We also have a project in the University of Maiduguri, Calabar, the University of Agriculture in Abia and other in Imo, we have other in Akure and we have another other ongoing projects in 8 Universities and 1Teaching Hospital, which the will soon commission ” he added.
The Rural Electrification Agency, is the Implementing Agency of the Nigerian Government under the Federal Ministry of Power, tasked with the electrification of unserved and underserved communities with the aim to catalyze economic growth and improve quality of life for Nigerians.
Energizing Education Programme, Grid Extension (Capital Projects), Energizing Economies Initiative, Solar Power Naija Programme, Energy for All – ‘Mass Rural Electrification’ and Research and Innovation Hub.
The Agency is responsible for creating an enabling environment for private sector-led projects, which includes conducting pre-feasibility assessments,energy audits, enumeration, data analysis, identification of qualified private sector developer and project stakeholder engagements and community engagements for awareness creation.
To give effect to some of its initiatives, REA has earlier obtained financing amounting to $550 million ($350 million from the World Bank and $200 million from the African Development Bank) for financing the Nigeria Electrification Project, and an additional $11 million for financing the Rural Electrification Fund for the deployment of Solar hybrid mini grids and solar home systems.
