The Aso Rock Presidential Villa is set to disconnect completely from Nigeria’s national electricity grid by March 2026 as it concludes its transition to solar power.
The State House Permanent Secretary, Temitope Fashedemi, disclosed this on Wednesday while defending the 2026 State House budget before the Senate Committee on Special Duties at the National Assembly in Abuja.
According to details released by the Presidency, Fashedemi told lawmakers that the solar installation project was completed toward the end of 2025 and has been undergoing testing since December.
“We are hopeful that maybe by March we’ll be able to do a full cutover,” he said, explaining that the move is expected to significantly reduce the government’s electricity costs.
Fashedemi cited the State House Medical Centre as proof that the project is viable. The facility completed its solar installation in May 2025 and has reportedly operated without switching on its generator since then.
“I have to say that since that time, the generator in that State House Medical Centre has not been put on for one minute since May last year,” he said.
He added that only about three per cent of the centre’s electricity supply came from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) over a short period, while the rest was powered entirely by solar energy and battery storage systems.
The Federal Government initially allocated N10bn in the 2025 budget for the “Solarisation of the Villa with Solar Mini Grid” project. The 2026 Appropriation Bill contains an additional N7bn provision for the initiative.
However, the project attracted public criticism, with some Nigerians arguing that installing solar panels at the Presidential Villa amounted to an admission that the government had failed to fix the country’s unreliable power supply.
Defending the decision earlier in 2025, the Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Mustapha Abdullahi, said it was unsustainable for the Villa to continue paying an estimated N47bn annually in electricity bills. The President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, also pointed to the White House’s use of solar energy as justification for the move.
Before the solar transition, the State House had accumulated substantial electricity debts. In February 2024, AEDC listed the Presidential Villa among top government debtors, with an outstanding bill of N923.87m.
Following reconciliation, the amount was reduced to N342.35m, which President Bola Tinubu directed should be settled immediately.
Fashedemi also told senators that testing of the new solar system uncovered cases of overbilling by AEDC. According to him, some transformers billed the Villa for electricity that was not supplied.
“What we have discovered during the testing phase is that there has been a lot of overbilling,” he said. “We are using this period to point it out and reconcile some of these legacy liabilities.”
The Permanent Secretary expressed optimism that once the full transition is completed, the Villa’s ageing generators installed when the complex was built may no longer be necessary.
Service providers had previously recommended replacing the generators, but Fashedemi said the performance of the solar system suggests that may not be required.
“Maybe we will just keep a couple for backup in case of any eventuality, but we believe the solar infrastructure will suffice,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Kaka Lawan (Borno Central), criticised the N127m allocated for SUV vehicles in the State House budget, describing the amount as unrealistic.
“I will join my colleague Aminu in rejecting N127m for SUV cars in the Villa. It cannot buy even a bulletproof tokunbo,” Lawan said.
He stressed that Nigeria should not present poorly equipped vehicles for visiting presidents and directed the Budget Office of the Federation to review the allocation upward.
Despite the concerns, Lawan commended the State House for appearing before the committee on schedule, saying it set a good example for other ministries, departments and agencies.
“If the State House can appear before this committee as you did, there is no reason other MDAs should not do the same. You have led by example,” he said.
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