By Emmanuel Emeka
The Federal Government has renewed its partnership with German artificial intelligence company VIDA to strengthen data-driven rural electrification planning as Nigeria pushes to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.
The partnership was reaffirmed on Tuesday in Abuja during the visit of the German Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Johann Wadephul, where the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and VIDA signed an extension of their collaboration under Nigeria’s clean energy transition agenda.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, said the agreement would enable the agency to deploy public funds more efficiently by using artificial intelligence to identify communities without electricity and determine the most cost-effective electrification solutions.
According to him, reliable data remains critical to achieving Nigeria’s ambitious electrification targets.
“When it comes to electrification, data and planning are critical. We cannot simply deploy funding without knowing where the unelectrified communities are, how many households they have and the most economical way to provide electricity,” Aliyu said.
He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved the implementation of the $750 million World Bank-funded Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) Programme, aimed at providing electricity access to 17.5 million Nigerians through the deployment of 1.35 million renewable energy connections.
Aliyu explained that VIDA’s artificial intelligence platform has mapped communities across Nigeria, providing detailed information on household numbers, socioeconomic indicators and electrification needs.
“The partnership allows us to deploy public resources in the most economically efficient manner. Without this technology, we would have spent enormous resources physically identifying and assessing communities across the country,” he said.
He added that the collaboration, which is renewed annually, also includes knowledge transfer to enable REA staff to independently operate and utilise the artificial intelligence platform in the future.
Aliyu revealed that Nigeria’s data-driven electrification model has attracted interest from several African countries seeking to replicate the approach in their own rural electrification programmes.
Also speaking, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of VIDA, Tobias Engelmeier, described Nigeria as one of the company’s most successful examples of how artificial intelligence can improve infrastructure planning.
He said VIDA’s platform combines data analytics and mapping technology to support faster, smarter and more transparent infrastructure investment decisions.
“Our goal is to make the best technology available to the people who need it most, and Nigeria has become a very strong example of that,” Engelmeier said.
According to him, the platform has helped improve transparency in subsidy allocation for renewable energy projects, encouraging greater private sector participation in rural electrification.
“The data platform has accelerated investment by providing market intelligence to private developers while helping government make better decisions based on reliable data,” he added.
A joint statement issued at the event said the renewed collaboration forms part of the broader Nigeria-Germany Energy Partnership, which has evolved over nearly two decades from policy dialogue into practical cooperation in renewable energy, digital innovation, institutional capacity building and private sector development.
The statement noted that through programmes including the Nigeria Electrification Programme (NEP), the DARES Programme, the Energizing Education Programme, and the National Public Sector Solarisation Initiative, the Rural Electrification Agency has already provided electricity access to approximately 4.5 million Nigerians.
It further disclosed that VIDA’s digital platform and subsidy analysis have helped REA and the World Bank save more than $100 million in public funds by improving electrification planning and targeting underserved communities.
The platform is currently used by about 200 private sector companies to access market intelligence and identify investment opportunities in Nigeria’s renewable energy sector.
According to the statement, the renewed agreement reinforces Nigeria and Germany’s shared commitment to leveraging digital innovation, artificial intelligence and data-driven planning to expand electricity access, stimulate economic growth and support sustainable development.
