By AbdulGaneey Akanbi<\/p>\n
Renewable energy investor, Gigawatt Global, has pledged up to $500 million in project financing to deploy solar power plants across Nigerian universities.<\/p>\n
Chief Executive Officer of the company, Yoseph Abramowitz, made the announcement on Thursday at the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2026 National Showcase in Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re honoured to be able to present up to $500 million in project finance,\u201d Abramowitz said.<\/p>\n
He said the funding would cover up to 90% of the cost required to build solar facilities on campuses, subject to bankable power purchase agreements and agreed project milestones.<\/p>\n
According to him, the intervention is aimed at solving the chronic power problems facing Nigeria\u2019s tertiary institutions noting that many universities currently rely on expensive diesel generators and get only a few hours of electricity daily. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you run a university in three, four or five hours? How do you not have internet because you don\u2019t have electricity?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Abramowitz explained that each solar facility would generate between 10 and 20 megawatts, which exceeds the immediate electricity needs of most universities.<\/p>\n
The surplus power, he said, would be supplied to surrounding rural communities through prepaid metering systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to bring down your costs, increase the amount of energy, make it green and sustainable, and empower the communities around each of these universities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CEO added that the project would also prioritise local content and job creation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to keep as many of the jobs locally, both for operations and maintenance and for the hardware to be made in Nigeria,\u201d Abramowitz stated.<\/p>\n
He said solar panels, cables, mounting systems and maintenance services would be sourced within Nigeria to build local capacity, disclosing that reducing universities\u2019 energy costs would free up funds for education, research and innovation.<\/p>\n
Abramowitz added that the initiative would also expand access to clean and affordable electricity in host communities.<\/p>\n
The $500m pledge was announced during the launch of the Federal Government\u2019s Tinubu Light Initiative by the National Board for Technology Incubation, NBTI.<\/p>\n
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, Muktar Muhammad, said the government was committed to policies that drive innovation and clean energy.<\/p>\n
NBTI Director-General, Kazeem Kolawole Raji, said the Tinubu Light Initiative and NextGen Challenge were designed to position Nigeria as a global hub for creativity and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n
With the combination of government policy and private investment, stakeholders said the deal could accelerate Nigeria\u2019s transition to a knowledge-driven, sustainable economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By AbdulGaneey Akanbi Renewable energy investor, Gigawatt Global, has pledged up to $500 million in project financing to deploy solar power plants across Nigerian universities. Chief Executive Officer of the company, Yoseph Abramowitz, made the announcement on Thursday at the NextGen Innovation Challenge 2026 National Showcase in Abuja. \u201cWe\u2019re honoured to be able to present […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16348"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16349,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16348\/revisions\/16349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}