Welcome to the

Youths & Environmental Advocacy Centre UK

Funding and supporting renewable electricity generation in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria.

why we exist

The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre UK (YEAC UK) is a UK registered not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. It was set up to provide governance and raise funding to finance the implementation of Solar PV mini-grids delivering affordable electricity to hard to reach communities in the Niger Delta.

The Community Energy and Development (CEAD) is the YEAC UK’s Nigerian delivery partner. Also a not-for-profit company, it has a community focused and non-extractive business model. CEAD is working exclusively on behalf of, and to benefit communities. The aim is for the programme to be financially sustainable when we reach our tenth mini-grid development.

For over half a century, Shell, the Nigerian Government, and other parties have explored and subsequently extracted oil in the area.

Instead of benefitting the local communities, the oil and gas activities have created significantly negative environmental, social, and economic consequences.

And the tragic irony is that more than fifty years on, a significant majority of Niger Delta communities do not have access to electricity.

About 40million people live in the Niger Delta, many in semi-urban and rural areas where access to electricity is rare.

YEAC UK and CEAD activities stop organised oil theft and illegal artisanal refining.

While regulated oil extraction is continuing to impact the Niger Delta adversely through oil spills and flaring, a significant proportion of oil pollution is related to illegal oil refining activities. It is estimated about 2,200 people, primarily young people in the Ogoni region alone, are presently involved with the practice of ‘oil bunkering’. Providing an alternative energy source is a key part in severing the dependency on fossil fuels in the Niger Delta.

yeac uk

our role

To break the dependency on illegally obtained fossil fuels and provide opportunities for communities to re-build their local economies, the YEAC UK and CEAD are rolling out a programme of Solar PV mini-grids in hard to reach communities in the Niger Delta region. Our approach is distinctive and uniquely positioned to: