Suleiman Babamanu

Suleiman Babamanu

Program Director
  • Global South

Suleiman is the program director in Nigeria and leads RMI’s growing portfolio focused on pushing the energy transition from traditional and often polluting and expensive energy infrastructure to clean, affordable, and resilient energy resources in Nigeria. The program strategy focuses on three main components: expanding the use of holistic energy planning and clean energy portfolios; enabling distributed energy resource (DER) adoption, including mini-grids; and demand-side interventions to drive efficient use of energy enabling local economic development.

Background

Suleiman brings over 14 years of experience in developing strategies for clean energy infrastructure and investment. Prior to joining RMI, he worked for the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in Nigeria as the project lead for the Solar Power Naija Program, the largest off-grid project in sub-Saharan Africa, where he led the overall implementation and delivery of the program.

While at the REA, he also managed other programs such as the Energizing Economies Initiative, which provides sustainable power to economic clusters in Nigeria and was one of the pioneers in the design and implementation of the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP) — a USD550m program funded by the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Education

BTech, Applied Geology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi, Nigeria
MSc, Renewable Energy Enterprise and Management, Newcastle University