Electricity is central to government economic diversification – Power Minister

By Olusegun Obisanya

The Minister of Power, Mamman Kwagyang Saleh has said that effective power generation and distribution is key to the Federal Government policy direction to diversify the economy.

He also stated that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to the nation’s electrification strategy to avail Nigerians reliable, sustainable and affordable power.

The minister stated this on Thursday during the media chat and project roadmap presentation solar photovoltaic farm in Delta State, the largest solar farm in West Africa, in Lagos. The event attracted local and international stakeholders.

Saleh said, “In Nigeria, we are committed to a national development path that is guided by the desire to diversify the economy away from oil with a focus on the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the economy, this means the power system is central to achieving this desired goal of economic diversification. This require us to develop and implement an overarching unified path to electrification leveraging both grid modernisation and extension; and renewable energy based distributed systems integration in the power system.

“In recognition of this, the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has launched vision 30:30:30, a target to deliver 30GW of electricity with 30 percent renewable energy by 2030. This is a key focus of the nation’s electrification strategy to avail Nigerians reliable, sustainable and affordable power.”

The minister, who was represented by his senior adviser, Abba Aliyu disclosed that the Ministry under his leadership has developed five focus areas to serve as a roadmap to support the national policy directive, explained that government key policy intervention in the sector is to improve access to power, through increased focus on embedded generation, off-grid power generation solutions, and on-grid independent power generation.

“This landmark project will be developed in partnership with Singapore based renewable energy firm, B&S Power and SunnyFred Global. From the project documentation, it will be located on about 304 hectares of land in Ashama village, Aniocha South of Delta State. Greenplinth Africa are consultants and strategic partners to the project promoters,” he disclosed.

Speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Yerima Tarfa noted that the change in climate has brought to focus the need to reverse the negligence of natural potentials Africa is generously endowed with for solving the challenges of human existence, one of which is the efficient exploitation of solar energy.

“Literatures reveal that more than 85 per cent of the continent’s landscape receive a global solar horizontal irradiation at or over 2,000 kWh per square meter annually; with an estimated theoretical reserve of 60,000,000 TWh/year, which is fairly evenly distributed across the continent and which accounts for almost 40 per cent of the global total (German Aerospace Center Institute, 2017). I think this is quite phenomenal.”

The permanent secretary, who was elated at the project observed that investments in the exploitation of the solar energy potentials in Africa is not commensurate with the abundance of its sun energy, adding that over-dependence on fossil energy in the continent has led to rapid increase in emissions of GreenHouse Gasses (GHGs), is impacting the world negatively.

He added, “The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, with a mandate that focuses on job creation, skills development, employment-related social safety-nets, industrial peace and harmony, etc, for enhanced productivity and wealth creation, is therefore pleased to identify with this project. The Ministry will be willing to work with you to actualize the goals and objectives, especially for the benefits of job creation, skills development and poverty reduction for our teeming youth population.”

In her presentation on “Impacts of sustainable and affordable energy access on communities in Nigeria,” Mrs. Adelaide Okocha of the Environmental Assessment Department, Ministry of Environment, Abuja, observed that a large but increasing number of conflicts are seen to be driven by environmental factors.

“A critical challenge in 21st-century geopolitics will be conflict created by scramble for the use of renewable natural resources and the environment. A project can triumph in a manner where it achieve its expected objectives, yet overshadowed by the problems or conflict its success triggers.

“Energy supports the provision of basic needs. Energy also fuels productive activities including agriculture, manufacturing, and industries. The supply of electricity, the country’s most used energy resource, has been erratic as a result of inadequate development and inefficient management,” she said.

Chairman, Minister’s Policy & Technical Advisory Committee on Environment, Prof. Abubakar Sambo, said when the project is completed, it will be a major addition to the much-needed clean electricity in Nigeria. Sambo, who reeled out benefits of renewable energy, said for Nigeria to have a significant expansion of its electricity supply, there is absolute need for the Government to consider that it is possible for only solar PV to produce 11,575 MW in 2030; 60,310 MW in 2040 and 99,658 MW in 2050.

“In order to ensure a sustainable use of solar energy technologies, assembly plants will have to be established in the nation. The involvement of the African Union and the African Development Bank will pave the way for exporting some of the modules and the balance of system components to other African nations. The skilled manpower needs for the above solar power figures are massive and will range from 104,175 in 2030, to 542,790 in 2040 and to 896,922 in 2050,” Sambo said.