Short answer: World Bank-funded projects in Nigeria buy solar street lights through state project units, mostly in small Request for Quotations packages that Nigerian contractors win. We found 12 contract awards with solar lighting from October 2023 to September 2026, under four projects: the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes project (ACReSAL), the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project for North East Nigeria and the Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up. Every award went to a Nigerian-registered company, usually after three evaluated bids. A manufacturer such as Solmast supplies the lights to the bidding contractor, with the datasheets, test reports and manufacturer’s authorisation the bid needs.
We searched the World Bank’s procurement notices for Nigeria for street lights, solar lights, solar lamps, floodlights and high masts, read every matching contract award notice and kept the awards whose scope includes outdoor solar lighting.
Chiffres clés
- 12 World Bank-funded contract awards with solar lighting, October 2023 to September 2026, in 7 states (Adamawa, Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Taraba, Yobe).
- 9 of 12 used Request for Quotations; 3 used Request for Bids.
- All 12 winners are Nigerian companies; 11 different contractors won. The median award had 3 evaluated bids; two had only one.
- Lighting-only awards ran from about ₦60 million to ₦179 million; the median of the six with a published price is about ₦84 million.
- One award gives a clean unit price: 150 solar street lights of 60 W for ten livestock markets in Adamawa, ₦83.0 million, or about ₦553,000 per installed light.
1. The awards
| Award notice | Project and state | Scope | Method, bids | Contract price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up, Nasarawa | Alternative power source (solar light) | RFQ, 3 | ₦84.2 m |
| Apr 2026 | L-PRES, Ondo | Solar security lights, wire fencing and borehole at livestock cluster farms | RFQ, 3 | ₦289.9 m |
| Dec 2025 | L-PRES, Kogi | Rehabilitation of 9 livestock markets, including solar lights and solar boreholes | RFB, 5 | ₦1,229.6 m |
| Jun 2025 | North East recovery project, Yobe | 345 all-in-one solar security street lights (150 W) for primary health centres and 1.5 km of township road | RFQ, 3 | ₦147.7 m |
| Jun 2025 | North East recovery project, Yobe | Solar street lights in boarding schools in six towns | RFQ, 3 | ₦59.9 m |
| Jan 2025 | ACReSAL, Benue | Solar boreholes and solar lights for rural communities in three senatorial zones | RFB, 3 | ₦1,076.3 m |
| Aug 2024 | ACReSAL, Taraba | Solar street lights at three state ministries | RFQ, 3 | ₦178.8 m |
| Aug 2024 | L-PRES, Adamawa | 150 solar street lights of 60 W in 10 livestock markets | RFQ, 1 | ₦83.0 m |
| Jul 2024 | L-PRES, Adamawa | Rehabilitation of 7 slaughter slabs with boreholes and solar street lights | RFQ, 1 | ₦105.1 m |
| Dec 2023 | ACReSAL, Benue | Solar lights in 5 communities and IDP camps | RFQ, 3 | ₦73.4 m |
| Oct 2023 | ACReSAL, Kogi | 5 solar boreholes with street lights in rural communities, Kogi East | RFQ, 3 | ₦130.1 m |
| Oct 2023 | ACReSAL, Nasarawa | Solar street lights in 11 wards of forest-dependent communities | RFB, 5 | not usable as published |
Prices are the signed contract prices in the World Bank award notices. The Nasarawa 2023 notice shows a price of ₦575,125, which cannot cover 11 wards of lights, so we leave it out of the price figures.
2. Which World Bank projects buy solar lights
- ACReSAL (5 awards): lights for rural communities, IDP camps and state offices in the northern and middle-belt states, often together with solar boreholes.
- L-PRES (4 awards): security lighting for livestock markets, slaughter slabs and cluster farms, often inside larger works contracts.
- North East recovery project (2 awards in Yobe): all-in-one security street lights for health centres, schools and township roads.
- Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up (1 award, 2026): solar lights as an alternative power source.
Invitations in 2026 followed the same pattern: the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) in Nasarawa asked for bids to supply and install solar lights in 85 schools (closed 18 August 2026), and L-PRES in Ebonyi tendered a farm road with security solar lights (closed 24 July 2026).
3. Ce que cela signifie pour les entrepreneurs et les fournisseurs
- The buyer is a state project unit, the bidder is a Nigerian contractor. Request for Quotations packages are small and fast (one to four months), so foreign manufacturers take part by supplying a contractor who bids.
- Prices are compared line by line. With three bids on most awards, a contractor needs a supply price, real battery and LED figures and a delivery date it can hold.
- All-in-one lights of 60–150 W dominate security and community lighting; roads with higher mounting heights need split systems. See our comparison.
- Lights often come inside works contracts with boreholes, fencing or market sheds. Contractors winning those need a lighting supplier who can quote quickly against a bill of quantities.
4. What a supplier has to provide for a World Bank-funded bid
- A manufacturer’s authorisation naming the bidding contractor and the bid reference, when the bid data sheet asks for it. World Bank standard bidding documents include a form for it.
- Datasheets that match the technical specification line by line: LED watts and lumens, panel watts, battery chemistry and Wh, controller, IP rating and mounting height.
- Type test reports for the exact model, issued for the producing factory by an accredited laboratory, which are also what SONCAP clearance of the import relies on.
- A warranty letter that matches the warranty clause in the bid, and a delivery schedule that fits the contract duration.
World Bank rules let firms from any country take part unless they are debarred or sanctioned, but small Request for Quotations packages are in practice contested by local firms. Check eligibility and every requirement in the bidding document for the package you are pricing.
Méthode et limites
We searched the World Bank procurement notices database (search.worldbank.org) for notices from Nigeria containing street light, streetlight, street lighting, solar light, solar lamp, flood light or high mast, and read the contract award notices. We kept awards whose scope includes outdoor solar lighting and dropped one for an office inverter system and one consultant contract. Where a notice was published in more than one version we used the latest. The database search may miss notices worded differently, and state projects funded from other sources are not included. Retrieved 5 November 2026.
FAQ
Which World Bank projects in Nigeria buy solar street lights?
In 2023–2026 the awards came from ACReSAL, L-PRES, the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project for North East Nigeria and the Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up. AGILE tendered solar lights for schools in 2026.
Can a Chinese manufacturer bid directly?
World Bank eligibility rules do not exclude foreign firms, but the packages are small Requests for Quotations run by state project units, and every award we found went to a Nigerian company. The practical route is to supply a Nigerian contractor with a manufacturer’s authorisation, datasheets and test reports.
How much do World Bank-funded solar street lights cost in Nigeria?
One Adamawa award priced 150 installed 60 W solar street lights at ₦83.0 million, about ₦553,000 each including installation. Lighting-only awards ranged from about ₦60 million to ₦179 million.
Where are these tenders published?
In the World Bank procurement notices database and on the state project units’ own notices, often also in Nigerian newspapers. The award notices list the winner, the evaluated bidders and their prices.
Comment nous aidons
Solmast makes all-in-one and split solar street lights and steel poles at two production bases in Kunming, China. For a World Bank-funded package we send datasheets with real battery Wh and LED watts, an IES lighting layout and a supply quotation within 2 working days, and we request a manufacturer’s authorisation naming your company and the bid reference, subject to the producing factory’s written confirmation. We quote FOB a Chinese port or CIF Lagos.
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Sources: World Bank procurement notices, Nigeria (search.worldbank.org), contract award notices October 2023 – September 2026, retrieved 5 November 2026; analysis by Solmast. Related: 245 Nigerian federal street lighting awards analysed, specifying solar street lights for Nigeria, World Bank-funded high masts in Kenya.