Tinubu Approves 500,000 Solar Lights For South-East, Kalu Says

President Bola Tinubu has approved the distribution of 500,000 solar-powered lights to rural households across the South-East, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said.

Kalu disclosed this during the flag-off of the Renewed Hope Light-Up initiative in Bende Federal Constituency, Abia State, where 26 transformers and 10,000 solar-powered lights and fans were distributed to communities.

He said 42,000 households in the constituency had been earmarked to benefit from the programme, with the first batch of 10,000 solar-powered lights and fans expected to arrive within two weeks.

According to Kalu, the initiative began with a pilot scheme that provided 1,000 units to selected beneficiaries. He added that representatives from the constituency’s wards had confirmed that the units were functioning.

The deputy speaker said the programme was designed to extend the benefits of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda to rural communities, particularly households affected by unreliable electricity supply.

He described the planned provision of solar-powered lights to 42,000 households in one federal constituency as unprecedented, saying the intervention would improve access to electricity in underserved communities.

The lawmaker representing Bende South Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Emmanuel Ndubuisi, welcomed the initiative, noting that some communities had been without electricity for about two years following transformer failures.