Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa has launched a targeted off-grid solar electrification project, dubbed the “Lucky Light Initiative,” to supply reliable, subsidised power to 1,000 micro and small enterprises battling crushing energy overheads.
The intervention was announced on Saturday at The Dome on Igbatoro Road in Akure during the 2026 Ondo State Entrepreneurship Agency Entrepreneurs Summit, convened under the theme “The New Ondo: Positioning Entrepreneurs for Emerging Opportunities”.
The scheme is strictly an enterprise-support intervention rather than a social welfare lighting project.
Aiyedatiwa explained that the initiative will cover small trade clusters and artisanal workshops across all 18 local government areas, rolling out in phased batches starting this year.
“Electricity is not a luxury for small businesses; it is part of their cost of production,” Aiyedatiwa told the gathering. “Rising energy costs translate directly into higher production costs.”
The governor maintained that Ondo must deliberately transition from a civil-service-dependent bureaucracy into a commercial production powerhouse.
To achieve that, he said, local enterprise must shift from exporting raw primary produce to packaging, processing, and branding finished goods for regional and global markets.
He listed cocoa processing, agro-allied manufacturing, solid minerals, the blue economy, and technology as prime growth corridors where the state holds natural comparative advantages.
In a move to seed long-term investment habits among emerging founders, Aiyedatiwa disclosed that the state government will purchase shares in the Dangote Group of Companies for 500 young entrepreneurs.
“This is about giving our youths a real stake in one of Africa’s leading industrial conglomerates and inspiring a culture of investment and long-term thinking,” the governor stated.
Twenty young innovators who emerged from the “ONDEA My IDEA” competitive vetting process were also awarded direct seed grants, business equipment, and institutional incubation access.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, in a keynote address delivered by his Special Adviser, Mr Toba Oyedele, stated that grassroots enterprise remains the cornerstone of the Federal Government’s drive to expand Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product to one trillion dollars by 2030.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Investment, Dr Summy Francis, described the summit as Nigeria’s largest business gathering, noting that the enterprise drive directly operationalises the administration’s seven-point “OUR EASE” development blueprint.
