By Tony Obiechina Abuja
The federal government says only 55 percent of Nigerians have access to electricity supply, with 86 percent based in the urban areas.
The Director General of National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Dr. Salisu Dahiru, made the disclosure at the opening of a two-day Africa Climate Forum 2023 in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to him, the government was not determined to increase access to electricity for the populace and also working to transition from fossil energy to clean and renewable energy.
Dr Dahiru noted that the modeling of Nigeria’s draft Long-term Low Emission Development Strategy (LT-LEDS), indicates that about 60 percent of Nigeria’s electricity can be achieved under the gas economy scenario while 80 percent can be achieved under the renewable energy scenario by 2050, adding that this will progress to 92 percent in 2060 under the renewable energy scenario.
The two-day forum which was organised by the Global Centre for Law, Business and Economy (GCLBE), has as its theme, ‘Powering the Future: Financing Energy Transition for Sustainable Progress’.
Dr. Dahiru said that a decentralised renewable energy sector will create jobs in rural communities, noting that the sector employs twice as many workers directly and up to five times as many in indirect jobs, particularly in the informal economies, which are the largest source of employment for least developing countries.
He said, “According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Green Job assessment, there will be about six million fossil fuel jobs lost, but with the right policies 24 million new jobs will be created by 2030.
“A key co-benefit from climate action will be the creation of green jobs. A study carried out during the revision of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) in 2021 evaluating the impact of Nigeria’s climate policies on employment, GDP and emissions, found that in terms of total number of jobs created, policies to increase power generation have the largest effect.
“Over the period 2020 up to 2035, on average, around 12 million net additional jobs will be added across the economy as compared to a baseline scenario.”
He said in the quest for a better future, Africa must bridge technological gap and step up dialogue around innovation. “The energy sector is already leading the charge to zero emissions, with breakthroughs and rapid price declines across the auto, power and lighting sectors,” he added.
“Globally, the number of electric vehicles on the road has jumped from 17,000 in 2010 to more than 7.2 million today. The installation of solar power grew from 290 MW in 2001 to nearly 127,000 MW in 2020. The share of LED bulbs in the lighting market has grown from 1% in 2010 to an expected 69 percent in 2020 and will be nearly 100 percent by 2025”, he further stated.
Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Kunle Salako, congratulated the organisers for taking the bold step to raise the issue of energy transition financing.
The minister who was represented by Mrs. Eniobong Abiola Awe, promised that the federal government is fully committed to ensuring the attainment of net zero emission by 2060.
In his goodwill message, Chairman, Senate Committee on Climate Change, Senator Seriake Dickson, said that Nigeria’s dependence on fossil fuel is not only contributing to global warming, but also to air pollution, geopolitical and local conflicts as well as social inequities.
He said, “It is therefore our collective responsibility to drive this energy transition. Available records show that Africa has 40 percent of the world’s renewable energy sources, yet available financing so far indicate that we are only attracting two percent of funding.”
“Achieving energy transition is not an easy task. It requires investment in innovative technology, massive in clean energy infrastructure and a shift generally in our energy consumption pattern.”
He promised that the National Assembly will be ready to support any move to achieve the financing of energy transition. READ ALSO:
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Earlier in his welcome address, Director General of Global Centre for Law, Business and Economy, Dr. George Nwangwu, said that lack of reliable power poses a major constraint to both private citizens and businesses, resulting in annual economic losses estimated at $26.2 billion, an equivalent of 2 percent GDP.
“This is why it is crucial for Africa where most of the poor people in the world are resident to take issues around energy seriously,” he said.
The 2-day forum attracted participants and stakeholders from the energy sector as well as goodwill messages from the diplomatic community.
