Buhari is unable to fulfill his promise to provide 9 schools access to uninterrupted electricity

In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari made a promise to provide an uninterrupted power supply to nine schools as part of the first phase of the Energizing Education Programme (EEP). According to the Office of the Vice President. The EEP is indeed an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria aimed at providing sustainable and clean power supply (89.6MW in total) to 37 federal universities and 7 university teaching hospitals across the country. The first phase of the program if fully funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria was intended to deliver 28.5MW of power to nine federal universities and one university teaching hospital, utilizing solar hybrid and/or gas-fired captive power plants. The project is being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) which is under the Federal Ministry of Power. 

Phase 1 of the EEP involves the powering of the nine (9) Federal Universities and one (1) Teaching Hospital across the six (6) geo-political zones namely; Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Federal University Ndufu Alike-Ikwo, Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Delta State, Usmanu Dan-fodiyo University Sokoto, Bayero University Kano, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (Gubi Campus). Phase 1 of the EEP will benefit 127,000 students and 28,000 staff of universities, 4,700 staff in Teaching Hospitals (including 819 doctors), power 2,850 streetlights, and result in the decommissioning of hundreds of generators.

As of May 15th, 2023, five out of the promised nine schools have been completed and commissioned: Bayero University Kano (BUK), Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, and Federal University of Petroleum Resources (FUPRE). However, the remaining schools are still awaiting the delivery of uninterrupted power.

The EEP aimed to address the issue of unreliable power supply in educational institutions, recognizing the critical role of uninterrupted electricity in facilitating effective teaching, learning, and research activities. Unfortunately, with President Buhari's tenure coming to an end, it is unlikely that the remaining schools will receive the promised power supply before his departure on May 29th, 2023.

We, therefore, rate this promise "Compromise”.

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