Nigeria has entered a new phase of clean-energy industrialisation, as the country imported fewer finished solar panels in October 2025, while local manufacturing capacity accelerated under recent policy reforms, the Rural Electrification Agency has said.
In a statement on Sunday, the Managing Director of REA, Abba Aliyu, described the development as a “historic industrial shift,” noting that the country imported 110 megawatts of solar cells compared to 82MW of finished solar panels during the period.
Aliyu said this was the first time in Nigeria’s history that solar cell imports targeted at local assembly had surpassed the importation of fully assembled panels.
According to him, this change is more than a trade statistic but “a structural signal that Nigeria is moving from buying clean-energy solutions to building them.”
“When we import finished panels, most of the value stays offshore. But when we import cells and assemble locally, 60–70 per cent of the value is created here in frames, glass, backsheets, junction boxes, encapsulation, lamination, testing, logistics, and skilled labour. That’s how industries grow,” Aliyu stated.
