Climate change: Nigerian politicians, religious bodies, others, urged to embrace renewable energy

— 23rd August 2018
Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
In a bid to checkmate the effects of climate change, Country Director, NexGen Energy in Nigeria, Mrs. Ezinne Ibe, has asked political office holders, non-governmental organisations, and corporate organisations to incorporate into their empowerment programmes, distribution of renewable energy solution devices for households and small scale businesses.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan, on Wednesday, Ibe said the devices could be used to empower barbers, hair stylists, tailors, and many other artisans, and households to complement hair dries, clippers, sewing machines and other items they usually distribute to empower the masses.
Ibe, who said adequate awareness on renewable energy solution has not been created in Nigeria, noted that the renewable energy solution devices could also be distributed by federal and state lawmakers that have been empowering their constituents with some items, adding that the devices at long run were more cost effective, if compared with other electricity generating devices that are not environmentally friendly.
According to her, “It is energy for the future. If you embrace it now, you have only re-positioned yourself for a better tomorrow. Global warming is affecting the environment and that is why the use of devices or equipment that consume fossil fuel such as diesel, petrol, and the likes, are being phased out. Why should we embrace what is being phased off?
“It has been found out overtime that whatever happens in the developed countries, trickles down to us in Africa. Now, Africa is no longer in a position of where it has been in the past. Africa is now rising.
“So, if Africa is now rising, we should embrace things that are already positioned for the future, and one of them is renewable energy solution options, which is what we offer in NexGen Energy. We are partnering with our clients to make sure that they are aligned and positioned for whatever the future has to offer.”
Ibe stated that whatever the government has been doing presently in Nigeria, “more can still be done with the support of the private sector. Every community keeps evolving. So, what worked yesterday or what is adequate today may not be adequate tomorrow. So, whatever the government is doing, I will advise that we should not rest of their oars, even as the private sector.
“All over the world, government is partnering with private sector to move things forward. This company was appointed recently as a mini-grid solution provider or rural electrification project. It is because the government has realised that the work is massive and huge.
“There are potential things that could be tapped from the private sector, which is all about business. The private sector can go as far as possible to get things done. We have three foreign technical partners that have presence all over the globe. We have direct contacts with our manufacturers, and suppliers, and we have been able to tell them the peculiarities of the Nigerian market.
“We have low voltage in Nigeria, which may not be applicable elsewhere. From the first set of inverters that we got and offered to our clients, we noticed a couple of things, which we had to tell our suppliers that situations are different in Nigeria.
“If you do it the way you have been doing it for the developed countries, it would not work here. This is the intelligence we found on the ground. Based on research, feedback and information we got from our clients, we were able to tell them the better ways to do it and it keeps getting better by the day.”