Supplying adequate electricity to the urban and rural areas has been a Herculean task for successive administrations in the country. Statistics say that access to the critical resource in rural areas is only about 35 percent and 55 percent in urban centres. With the majority of Nigerians living in the rural areas, it is glaring that the vast majority of the people have poor access to electricity.
It has been estimated that developing economies need about 10,000 megawatts of electricity per 55 million people to meet their electricity demand. Therefore, diversifying the energy source in the country has become imperative.
It is for this reason that we welcome the promise of the federal government to meet the energy demands of rural communities through solar energy, a renewable energy solution. Acting President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo gave this assurance last week in Abuja at the inauguration of the Nigerian Renewable Energy Roundtable.
He explained that government has started, through the Rural Electrification Agency, to develop an energy database that will show community locations in the country and their energy demand profile. He cited Wuna village in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, as a successful case study where solar energy has proved to be a reliable alternative energy source. Having visited Wuna not long ago, the Acting President recalled how solar has come to the rescue of the rural folks, empowered the women in processing their farm produce like millet, rice and other seedlings, and afforded the children the opportunity to read well into the night without the use of generators. He said jobs had also been created for the rural people, thereby reducing the need for the people to drift to the urban centres in search of elusive jobs.
We urge government to replicate the Wuna experiment in other rural communities across the country. Solar energy could be the game-changer in the country’s energy crisis. Currently, most of the electricity supplied to electricity consumers is on-grid power supplied by Distribution Companies (DisCos), with its constraints of unavailability of gas, inadequate transmission infrastructure and the liquidity issues in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
It is now apparent that diversifying the energy source in the country is the way forward. It is projected that by 2020, (less than three years from now), electricity demand will be in excess of 40,000 MW. The energy mix is expected to be 69 percent thermal, 10 percent coal, about 17 percent hydro and 4 percent, renewable energy.
Considering the perennial power supply problem and its far-reaching implications for industrial output, the economy and individual homes, the future of energy supply in Nigeria rests on investment in renewable energy to replace fossil fuel as the major energy source, not only for the rural areas, but the urban areas too.
Its numerous benefits recommend it for both developed and emerging economies. For instance, solar power is renewable at little or no cost. Although solar panels are relatively expensive, they harness energy from the sun and convert it to electricity. They also combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuel.
As the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Prof. Ajayi Borofice rightly said, global efforts on Climate Change will favour the demand for renewable energy. We cannot agree more. Considering the low greenhouse gas emissions from solar power, increasing its adoption is an essential strategy at both individual and national levels.
Beyond the Wuna success story, the time has come for government at all levels, companies and well-to-do individuals to work towards the installation of solar panels as part of the solar home system programme. We encourage the government to expand this programme beyond the one million households it promised. There is need for specific timelines to actualize this plan. Our country is blessed with adequate sunshine to make this possible.
Countries like Brazil, Chile and Mexico, which embraced solar energy, were in 2015 ranked among the top ten markets in terms of renewable energy investment. We, therefore, call for purposefulness and a sense of urgency in making this plan reality.