Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State says future for Nigeria is clean and affordable energy that will drive growth of businesses and ensure reduction of carbon emissions.
Akeredolu made this assertions at the inauguration of Nexgen Energy Hub in Ibadan on Thursday.
The governor, represented at the event by his Deputy, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, said the hub would create, as much positivity as possible by delivering clean energy solutions, while leaving lasting economic, social and environmental benefits.
“What we are inaugurating is a great idea, an innovation that will bring so much benefits to humanity in terms of economic benefit and even, our environment.
“What we have here is the provision of clean and affordable energy that NEXGEN is known for.
“And, I believe it will stand as a signpost for energy efficiency, because of what they are going to be providing for the public.
“For many years and indeed decades, Nigeria’s pursuit of energy solutions has followed a single track of on-grid-power until recently when off-grid power became a focal policy of the Federal Government.
“This impact of the policy shift is that access to small scale and off-grid electricity, increasingly becoming available to Nigerians in market places, universities and businesses premises,” Akeredolu said.
He said it was pleasing to see that the private sector, Nexgen inclusive, had been seriously keying into the policy shift by building off-grid power.
According to him, this is a worthy option for the private sector and state and the local governments to consider.
“This Nexgen energy hub project is also in line with commitment with other leading countries in the world under the Paris Climate Change Agreement, which Nigeria is a signatory to.
“A global resolve to reduce carbon emissions by committing to the use of renewable sources of energy,” the governor said.
Also, Dr Segun Adaju, the President, Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria (REAN), said half of Nigeria has not been connected to the grid.
According to Adaju, the half that is connected don’t have up to four hours of electricity on the average every week.
“By international standards, if you don’t have four hours continuous power, you are considered to be off-grid, that means almost the whole of Nigeria is off-grid.
“The energy that is generated, using alternatives that are not too good is like four or five times of what the grid supplies.
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“So, almost 20,000 watt is done by polluting the environment through generators and others; running generators now is very expensive,” he said.
Adaju commended the role of the private sector in achieving sustainable and clean energy as well as government policy on renewable energy.
In his address, Mr Uka Ibe, an engineer and Chief Executive Officer, Nexgen Energy, said the hub was set up to solve the problem of deficit in green energy access and insufficient, unreliable and unsustainable electricity supply from the national grid.
Ibe said that the poor power supply in the last one month had caused more hardship to Nigerians and reduced productivity for businesses.
He said that it would also serve as a training and testing centre where people would be empowered in the value chain of renewable energy as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.
