Sustainable Development

Most Nigerian residents still rely on diesel and petrol powered generators to complement the unstable energy they get from the national grid. However, there is a surging demand for standalone solar solutions, how will Nigeria handle the potential toxic lead-acid battery waste from solar products? This article tries to find out.

Geoengineering technologies are not yet deployable globally, but support for them is advancing fast, thanks to backing by powerful advocates eager to start experiments. But no silver bullet for climate change exists, and we must not abandon proven methods for the sake of a promise that one will be found

In Nigeria, mass transit systems are chaotic and in many places non-existent; no Nigerian city has an intra-city rail system and only Lagos has a bus rapid transport scheme. Commuters have to rely on small buses (most of which are old and creaking), taxis and auto rickshaws or tricycles (popularly called keke).

Many Nigerians cannot afford to buy their own homes. Real estate properties are expensive and there is lack of robust mortgage available to Nigerians. With an increasing population and an expanding housing deficit of over 17 million units, award winning architect Chinwe Ohajuruka still believes that affordable green houses have the ability to curtail the housing deficit and place many Nigerians on the pathway of owning their homes. Chinwe has completed the construction of an Eco Village in Port Harcourt which could become a blueprint for affordable housing, low-carbon architecture and job creation. Watch Video

Jigawa State is losing over 300 trees a day for bakery activities alone: 1 tree is fired per bakery per day to bake the ubiquitous bread, which has become the staple food for many Nigerians on low incomes. With more efficient bakery ovens, this loss could be reduced by 80 per cent, and the bakers would save money on their fire wood as well. Renewable Energy entrepreneurs Hannah Kabir and Happy Amos have installed 3 such ovens in Jigawa State, as pilot cases.

Many Nigerians have grown skeptical about the power of solar. The general impression is that solar energy cannot provide a lot of power, that ‘it’s not bright’ and that it breaks down after just a few months. One solar engineer in the capital city of Abuja has gone all the way to demonstrate that this impression is wrong: He has built a block of apartments which are run entirely on renewable energy.

Zenabou Segda, Burkinabée, et Moutari Abdoul Adjid, Nigérian, militants du Réseau Climat et Développement, se préparent  pour les négociations à Paris, en Décembre 2015.

In Amakpa community in Edo state, Solar panels have powered a borehole for the past four years. The experience has been without hitches, a win-win for the villagers as Adesesde Oghademegbe explains in this short video. Watch video

Nigeria’s renewable energy industry is tiny by all means, despite excellent conditions for electricity production from solar, small hydro and biomass sources. If Nigeria covered only 1% of its land mass with solar panels, it could produce 192,000 megawatts of power, compared to the 4,000 megawatts that are currently available on the national grid. In his contribution to the Green Deal Nigeria study, Huzi Mshelia describes the manifold efforts on energy policy and regulation, which have so far resulted in little results.

186 words to inspire you to imagine Nigeria without gas flaring and with a more transparent management of the oil and gas sectors, where communities who own natural resources such as oil, gas or minerals would earn royalties on the exploration of these resources...