Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) wishes to request for information from its members especially members of the One Million Youth Volunteers domiciled in communities across the Niger Delta that if they have knowledge of communities without electricity they should let us know for an immediate proposal for an installation of Solar Mini-Grid Electricity Project that we are attracting from our foreign and international partners for community and human capital development.

This YEAC project is in line with our energy transition programme and part of measures to provide youths including women and artisanal refiners in the Niger Delta with alternative livelihood opportunities through the installation of Solar Mini-Grid projects and facilitation of Productive Uses of same to earn a living outside vices and artisanal refining that pollutes the environment, destroys fishing and farming and contributes to soot and other associated health issues in the society.

While ADVOCACY CENTRE is working on improving the lives of the people in communities where the Solar Mini-Grid project already exist like those in Egbeke and Ozuzu through the provision of funds for businesses that they would use the electricity to power, we have decided to facilitate the construction and building of new facilities in communities without electricity in the third phase of this project.

The first phase was to install this Solar Mini-Grid Electricity facility in a community that has electric poles standing but electricity is not stable but we decided to end that phase following the challenge that we had in an Ogoni community on January 21, 2022 where we had earlier earmarked for the project but had to be cancelled ❌ as a result of the issue.

YEAC then moved to the second phase which entails to empower interested community people with funding supports to use the facility with standby electricity in their communities to improve their lives. While that process and phase is ongoing, ADVOCACY CENTRE had decided to commence the third phase of the project which is to install the new Solar Mini-Grid facility in communities without electricity that meet the following conditionalities.

They include;

1. The community should be in either Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers States where YEAC already has stronger presence working with youths and artisanal crude oil refiners

2. The community must not have any electricity poles of PHED standing as we are going to install our own poles to transport electricity to households and business points.

3. The community must have a minimum of 400 houses

4. The community must have a minimum of 500 people living in it.

5. The community must have a functional paramount ruler, CDC, youth and women leaders willing to be engaged for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to either accept or reject the project, etc.

6. There is no problem if the community is far, interior and hard-to-reach

7. The community must be peaceful such that the safety and security of the multi-million Naira facility would be safe and secure to serve the ordinary people and improve their lives.

With this brief, we hereby request that if you know any such community, kindly inbox the Executive Director of Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) or email him at fyneface@centreadvocacy.org on or before 4PM on Saturday, March 19, 2022 for immediate action.

If you have any questions or need anything further clarifications or information, kindly contact us.

Thank you.

FYNEFACE DUMNAMENE FYNEFACE,
Executive Director, YEAC.
March 18, 2022