By Chiagozie Udeh and Oseloka H. Obaze<\/p>\n
National development, economic growth, infrastructure, industrialization
\nand manufacturing, share a common denominator; adequate and constant power
\nsupply. Such regularity in power supply guarantees that industries that
\ncreate employment and wealth, run on a twenty-four hour cycle. Despite
\nyears of lip service to building up power supply in Nigeria, the capacity
\nand adequacy of electricity remains largely unchanged. Presently, Nigeria
\nwith a population of over 180 million people has a total installed
\ncapacity for electricity of 12,522MW with her peak generation output at
\n5,074MW. Comparatively, South Africa with a population of 52.4 million has
\na total installed capacity of 45,000MW and peak generation of 35,819MW.
\nWhen President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in May 2015, he prioritized
\nsolving the electricity conundrum in Nigeria. Recently, the Federal
\nGovernment tweeted, Generated power has gone up to 7,000MW in 2017 from
\n3,000MW in May 2015; transmission capacity at 6,900MW in 2017 from about
\n5,000MW in May 2015; peak distribution now averaging 5,000MW in 2017 from
\n2,690MW in 2015. Encouraging as these figures are, they can hardly be
\nconfirmed by the realities experienced in Nigerian industries, homes and
\nstreets. To Nigerians, there have been no drastic changes in electricity
\ngeneration and distribution in the past three years.
\nNonetheless, Minister for Power, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has been
\ntrumpeting at every opportunity that Nigeria now generates more than its
\ndistributive capacity; seemingly oblivious of the dissonance in policy and
\nimplementation which he seeks to highlights. As Minister Fashola opined
\nrecently, If we can produce 7,000 megawatts and we can only distribute
\nabout 5,000 megawatts; the problem has changed from lack of power to
\nlocating where the need is.” Generating power absent distributive capacity
\nis equal to inability to generate.
\nIronically, most Nigerians don’t understand or care about the dialectics
\nof power supply; all they need is power twenty-four-seven. Nigerians want
\naffordable electricity on demand. Just like their mobile phones – which
\nthey recharge when they want- Nigerians want an electricity solution where
\nthey will be in control. Currently, the electricity sector operates on a
\nrob-Peter-to-pay-Paul basis, where consumers lucky to have the prepaid
\nmeters enjoy the indirect subsidy by consumers who are unlucky not to have
\ntheir meters installed. Some consumers who paid for meters have been
\nwaitlisted for over five years and are in the interim paying almost 100
\npercent more than those boasting of the prepaid meters. What is perhaps
\nmore frustrating, is that the assessed bills are inversely proportional to
\nactual electricity consumed. This mode of electricity demand and supply is
\nno longer sustainable in Nigeria. At a time the rest of the world is
\nexploring alternative sustainable energy, Nigeria cant afford to look
\naway. Enter solar energy.
\nNigeria retains great potentialities to switch to 100 percent clean energy
\nwith solar power. Recent scientific analysis and recorded weather readings
\nindicate that the scorching intensity of the sun in parts of Northern
\nNigeria result in solar irradiation at 7.0Kw.m2\/day; while readings in
\nthe coastal areas, hovers around an average of 3.5 kw.m2\/day. Accordingly,
\nas reported by Financial Nigeria International, analysts have projected
\nthat Nigeria could generate 600,000MW by deploying Solar PV panels from
\njust 1% of Nigeria’s land mass. Such generative capacity for a country
\nthat requires only about 50,000 MW to be adequately electrified is simply
\nastonishing. What is far much astounding is why Nigerian policymakers seem
\naverse to exploring the nations solar power potentials. Two causative
\nfactors bedeviling solar energy deployment are readily identifiable;
\ngovernments lack of willingness to invest in solar power and Nigerias
\nofficialdom treating the funding of solar power exploration as though it
\nis the exclusive preserve of international development partners.
\nAcceptably, Nigerias federal government cannot fund diversification to
\nsolar energy alone. However, it must exhibit the willingness and be seen
\nas effectively proactive in deploying its limited resources in this area.
\nThere is also dissonance in related policy debate, as evidenced by the
\nNigerian Senates attitude and its consequent rejection of the N10bn solar
\nproposal for rural electrification of nine federal Universities and 37
\nTeaching Hospitals in Nigeria. The query by Senator Buka Mustapher, the
\nVice-Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and
\nMetallurgy, during the Ministry of Powers 2018 defense of its budget as
\nto Who is paying for the installations when the power sector had been
\nprivatized? is indicative of the prevailing lack of requisite knowledge
\nand proper briefing on the matter. The notion also exist that the
\nlawmakers are simply protecting vested interests in the power sector.
\nPolicy Incentives
\nIt can be readily concluded that besides a dearth of favourable policies
\non solar deployment in Nigeria, the prevailing inertia derives also from
\nthe lack of implementation of extant policies. The National Renewable
\nEnergy and Energy Efficiency Policy 2015 (NREEEP), beyond setting the
\ntarget of achieving 16% renewable energy consumption for Nigeria by year
\n2030, provides some decent incentives for the sector, including; Free
\nCustom Duties for two (2) years on the importation of renewable energy
\nequipment; allows project developers to obtain soft loans from the
\nRenewable Electricity Fund (REF); tax incentives\/holidays to manufacturers
\nof renewable energy products; and assist in allocation of land to
\nmanufacturers. These are great policies meant to incentivize solar energy
\ndeployment in Nigeria. The NREEEP If effectively deployed, would also
\nassist Nigeria to achieve Goal 7 (Clean Energy) of the Sustainable
\nDevelopment Goals of the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Government Responsibility
\nWhat must the government do? Government must change its attitude and
\napproach to the solar energy sector. It must take the lead and see solar
\nenergy as a long-term strategic bankable option. Government should rethink
\nNigerias engagement with its international development partners,
\nespecially International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the African
\nDevelopment Bank (AFDB). Both organizations stand ready to not only
\nsupport and fund solar projects, but also help member States develop such
\nbankable projects. It should be realized also that lack of bankable
\nprojects remains the biggest reason why most international funders wont
\ncommit their money to some projects. Government must also delineate
\nclearly, her experts and representatives in this critical sector. Oddly,
\nat the 7th IRENA Assembly in Abu Dhabi in 2017, it was Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu,
\nthe Minister of Science and Technology, who represented Nigeria, a fact
\nthat left many struggling to understand the absence of the oversight
\nMinister of Power. The consolidation of Ministries of Works, Housing and
\nPower under one Minister is indubitably playing a negative role in this
\nregard.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Nigeria is ripe for massive solar deployment and most
\nindividuals\/businesses are already opting for home solar systems in the
\noff-grid (stand-alone) space. It is now for the federal government to
\nembrace its responsibility to scale up the deployment of solar energy
\nstarting with public buildings, parks and streets, then expanding to Small
\nand Medium Scale Enterprises (SMES) across the country. Its time to act.<\/p>\n
—-
\nUdeh is a Climate Policy Research Associate at Selonnes Consult Ltd.;
\nObaze is MD\/CEO, Selonnes Consult Ltd.<\/p>\n
By Chiagozie Udeh and Oseloka H. Obaze National development, economic growth, infrastructure, industrialization and manufacturing, share a common denominator; adequate and constant power supply. Such regularity in power supply guarantees…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n