Naija Solar Lens

Focus: Demographic Perspective | REA 35MWp Solar at Green Economic Zone, Maraban Jos | 86.8M Nigerians Without Electricity | Expires with Kaduna's Youth Bulge When Nigeria's Rural Electrification Agency awarded a US$46.2 million contract in May 2021 for the 35MWp solarization of the 330/33kV substation at the Green Economic Zone in Maraban Jos , it was responding to more than an energy shortage. It was responding to a population that is growing, urbanising and getting younger faster than infrastructure can keep up. Kaduna’s growing and youthful population — the demographic pressure behind the need for power. (1k low-opt image for fast load). A Race Between People and Power The World Bank has observed that Nigeria's population has grown faster than its electrification efforts. In its 2025 energy progress report, it counted roughly 86.8 million Nigerians without access to electricity — the largest number of any country, for the third consecutive edition of the report....

Focus: REA 35MWp Solar Project | Green Economic Zone, Maraban Jos, Kaduna State | Contract REA-NEP/C/EEI/25/18 (10 May 2021) | US$46.2 Million 35MWp solar farm at Green Economic Zone, Maraban Jos, Kaduna State — aerial view. Image: AI generated for illustration. Large energy projects are usually discussed in megawatts and dollars. But what does the 35MWp solar plant at Kaduna's Green Economic Zone (GEZ) in Maraban Jos really mean for the people living around it? Here's the sociological story behind the panels. Electricity as a Social Resource Sociologists have long observed that access to power is unevenly distributed — and that this unevenness reinforces other inequalities. In Nigeria, the World Bank notes that the poorest households are far less likely to be connected to the grid than wealthier ones, and the gap between rural and urban areas remains wide. Where power exists but is unreliable, those who can afford generators cope; those who cannot are left behind. A p...