Energy
is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economic growth and development. It
significantly serves as a tradable commodity for earning the national
income, which is used to support government development programmes. It
also serves as an input into the production of goods and services in the
nation’s industry, transport, agriculture, health and education
sectors, as well as an instrument for politics, security and diplomacy.
It
is evident that Nigeria being the most populous black nation in the
world, endowed with rich and diverse natural resources, is still one of
the poorest countries in the world with an estimated GDP per capita of
N1,977.97.
Energy crisis in Nigeria has become a
norm for several decades and is the bane of her economic development.
There is an extreme electricity deficiency in Nigeria and the causes of
this deficiency are related to financial, socio-political, and
structural issues which lead the power sector in Nigeria to be recording
high energy losses from power generation and billing which lead to
insufficient cash generation as a result of these inefficiencies. Only
about 40 per cent of households in Nigeria are connected to the national
grid. There is high-energy loss due to the physical deterioration of
the transmission and distribution facilities, an inadequate metering
system and an increase in the incidence of power theft through illegal
connections.
Energy demand in the country is dominated by fuel
wood and women and children are the most affected in the energy crisis.
The energy sector thus totally relies on government’s subsidised fuel
and funding of major energy plants and energy capital projects by the
Federal Government, states and government agencies. The government has
not been able to find permanent solutions that will resolve the
problems. The irony of the situation is that, as the abundance of the
vast oil and gas reserves are in Nigeria, so also are the abundance of
renewable energy potential, but the country still depends on
alternatives that are still within the limits of fossil fuels, which are
the only sources that currently power the nation economy.
Acting
out of the papers has become very necessary. Alternative energy sources
are presently the only panacea that will “bail the cat” as seen
practised by many other countries including Kenya, Ethiopia and South
Africa which the Bloomberg New Energy Finance has confirmed are leading
in the renewable energy revolution in Africa, leaving Nigeria, the giant
of Africa behind. Renewable energy sources are still the best and
wonderful option because they are limitless. We will not run out of them
as we may do the fossils fuels. Also, it is not only the declining
level of fossil fuels that is the only major concern to make Nigeria
adapt and switch to the use of renewable energy sources, Climate change,
which is caused as a result of carbon emissions and environmental
pollution, is drawing the world’s attention and forcing national
governments to formulate policies that will make their nations adapt to
the use of renewable energy sources to cut environmental pollution to a
barest minimum, because global warming has become a major issue and
problem of the world today and in the future.
Nigeria should not
be lagging behind in toeing this viable path that other visionary and
proactive nations are doing to save their countries from impending
energy cataclysm. Long-term investments in renewable energies like solar
and wind have the potential to contribute significantly to the
electricity deficiency.
The theoretical framework of the energy
policy outlined by the Nigerian government seems promising, but there is
a discontinuity, however, between implementation and theory. The
Federal Ministries of Environment and Power and the Energy Commission of
Nigeria should implement their blueprints of renewable energy
technologies in at least, direct capturing of the excess solar energy,
abundant in Nigeria.
From the NiMET’s info sheet, Nigeria is
endowed with an annual daily sunshine that is on average 6.25 hours,
which is ranging between about 3.5 hours at the coastal areas of the
northern boundary of the nation and also has an annual average daily
solar radiation of about 3.5 KWm2/day in the coastal area which is in
the southern part and 7.0 KWm2/ day at the northern boundary. Nigeria
receives about 4909.212 kWh of energy from the sun which is equivalent
to about 1.082 million tonnes of oil; this is about 4,000 times the
current crude oil production per day, and also put at about 13 thousand
times of daily natural gas production based on energy unit.
A
majority of Nigerians are not aware about the environmental impacts and
economic benefits of adopting renewable energy. The public awareness of
the renewable energy technologies is generally low. Consequently, the
public does not have much influence that will compel the government to
formulate decisive policies and initiatives that will enhance and
promote the application, development, dissemination and diffusion of
renewable energy technologies and resources in the Nigerian energy
market. The environment will surely benefit from the elimination of
fossil fuels, which will also boost most sectors of the economy. This is
where it becomes the business of the general public to prod the
government to divest to renewable energy to better the socio-economic
lives of the citizens and enhance the economy of the nation.
- Smart C. Amaefula is a climate change expert and programme coordinator, Climatters, Abuja
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