Nigeria can leverage renewable energy for industrialisation — Climate activist

L-R: Hon Stephan Wenzel, Parliamentary Secretary, German Bundestag; Hon. Baerbel Hoehn, former member of German Bundestag and currently, Special Representative for Decentralised Energy for the Global South and Rep. Sam Onuigbo, Member (South-East) Governing Board, and Chairman, Committee on Security, Climate Change and Special Interventions of North-East Development Commission, at the 2024 IRENA Legislators Forum at Abụ Dhabi, UAE

By Kayode Adebiyi

Former House of Representatives member and the sponsor of Nigeria’s Climate Change Act, Mr Sam Onuigbo, has said Nigeria can leverage on renewable energy for industrialisation.

Onuigbo made this known in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

The former lawmaker emphasised that Nigeria has a huge energy market with about 90 million underserved people.

He also said that the Nigerian government should create an enabling environment for the flourishing of investments in renewable energy to address its huge energy deficit in line with the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of President Bola Tinubu.

Speaking on the concrete steps Nigeria has taken to endorse renewable energy, Onuigbo pointed out the constitutional amendment that removed electricity from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List, saying it was a game changer.

He also referred to the subsequent enactment of the Electricity Act 2023 with provisions for off-grid and mini-grid generation and distribution of power as another game changer.

He said the Climate Change Act, with its provision for research and development on renewables and the Clean Cooking Policy, which seeks to achieve universal clean cooking energy access by 2030, were proofs of the country’s commitment to renewable energy.

“The recent provision of subsidies to support the development and the operation of solar hybrid mini-grids in unserved and underserved areas courtesy of a US$750m World Bank loan shows the commitment towards green energy.

“Nigeria will surely benefit from the global ambition of tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030 and consequently industrialise from it,” he said.

Onuigbo, who represents the South-East on the Governing Board of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), advised international investors to invest in Nigeria’s huge renewable market.

He also urged international investors to take maximum advantage of the opportunity the Nigerian market offers both for the growth of their businesses and the country’s development. (NAN)

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Edited by Sadiya Hamza