In 15 months, federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) have spent a whopping N220 billion on solar power projects, as government institutions seek to hedge against Nigeria’s unstable national grid and rising energy bills.
The spending, reflected in 2,855 government payment transactions, demonstrates a growing dependence on alternative energy sources, especially solar, while system breakdowns continue, Band A electricity tariffs rise and diesel and petrol costs climb, says The Guardian.
The payments also revealed that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security was the highest spending agency with N19.2 billion paid in 118 transactions, the highest payment of all MDAs during the period under scrutiny.
The data, dating from January 2025 to March 2026, is from Govspend, a website that tracks government payments, and also lists B.Solar Energy Limited as the only private-sector company to receive the most solar-related contracts.
The firm had no presence on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) webpage and Nigeria’s beneficial ownership record as of yesterday, but it raised N4.25 billion in only 13 transactions.
The data reveal how private contractors, vendors and certain statutory entities are progressively benefitting from the solarisation effort, even as Nigeria’s national grid continues to linger around an average capacity of 4,000 megawatts (MW), considerably below demand and plagued by periodic system breakdowns.
Going deeper into the data, the Energy Commission of Nigeria, ECN, was hot on the heels of the Agriculture Ministry with N16.85 billion in 122 transactions, while the Rural Electrification Agency, REA had the highest number of transactions at 282, totalling N14.34 billion.
Other large spenders are the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (Lagos) with N14.34 billion, Federal Co-operative College, Oji River with N12.29 billion, and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, which spent N10.26 billion across 47 transactions, having the highest average transaction value of N218.3 million among the leading agencies.
Other agencies in the highest spender category are National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin (N9.62 billion), Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute, Ilorin (N8.8 billion), National Productivity Centre (N8.64 billion) and Federal Ministry of Works (N8.63 billion).
The installation involved over 871 transactions which generated about N12 billion Value Added Tax (VAT) and Withholding Tax (WHT) collected by the defunct Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
The private contractors are led by solar firms with B.Solar Energy Limited and 4Plus Solar Energy Limited pocketing N3.56 billion from 13 transactions while other prominent beneficiaries include Diamond Leeds Ltd (N2.51 billion) and Gorrion Engineering Limited (N2.46 billion).
Checks by our correspondent on the CAC site reveals that Diamond Leeds and Gorrion have a connected beneficial owner being Chioma Ifekudu and Onyinye Ifekudu. Both companies are connected to Dr. Kenneth Ifekudu.
CAC linked Osho Juliana Pascaline to Techtap Consult Limited, which got N2.25 billion. Adeuyi Adewale was tied to Alpuba Services Limited which received N1.9 billion. Nnamdi Ifekudu was tied to Ken Vic Moore Biz Ventures Nig Limited which received N1.67 billion.
The dormant B.Solar Energy Limited and 4Plus Solar Energy Limited who have no verifiable owners on the CAC portal, similarly had an average of between N270 million and N327 million per transaction. This suggests that high-value solar contracts are being consolidated around a few companies.
A further examination at the contract specifications finds a continued trend of solar projects in MDAs.
These include solar streetlights supplies and installations in different towns, solar-powered systems and all-in-one solar lights.
Interestingly, several of these contracts were issued by agencies with little direct link to energy infrastructure such as the Nigeria Stored Products Research Institute, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
There are also major inconsistencies in spending trends across the time. For example, in December 2025, N69.5 billion was disbursed, about a third of the total disbursements, clearly illustrating that spending peaks toward the end of the year, a practice that usually signals a desire to spend all budgetary allocations.
Other months of heavy spending include September 2025 at N43.98 billion and February 2025 at N33.71 billion. In contrast, June and July 2025 saw very little activity, with a total expenditure of less than N340 million.
Last year, electricity distribution firms (DisCos) lamented that they were owed hundreds of billions of naira by various MDAs throughout the country with no payment plans in sight, saying MDAs were unable to pay over N100 billion in electricity bills.
Sunday Oduntan, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors, has disclosed that as of November 2025, certain DisCos were due over N60 billion while the MDAs owed over N100 billion.
About the Author
