•Prof Bart Nnaji
By Vivian Daniel
In a carefully-weighed move to drive home the message of the impacts of fossil fuels and minerals extraction in Nigeria, the Publisher of the bilingual “Development Agenda Magazine”, Mr Paddy Ezeala has organised an energy transition symposium aimed at discussing the world’s issue of embracing cleaner or renewable energy from fossil fuels, justice for the people and communities involved and inclusion in the overall transition paradigm.
The event took place on Friday 24 May 2024 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, which had notable keynote speakers exploring factors and opportunities for mitigating the expected negative effects of the government’s energy transition programmes on Nigerians at large.
The special guest of honour, Vice President Kashim Shettima represented by Sadiq Wanka, Special Adviser to the President on Power and Infrastructure, noted that “We appear to find ourselves at a critical juncture faced with two important priorities which at first glance may appear to be in conflict with each other but in reality, and with adequate planning and sequencing, are not. The first is the need for bold actions to stem the serious impact that may come with climate change while the second is the need for rapid economic development that enhances the livelihood of Nigerians. And, with 45% of Nigerians lacking access to electricity and its GDP per capita income, the urgency of improving the lives of Nigerians is clear. This economic transformation has to be underpinned by a rapid scale-up of energy production…”
•Paddy Ezeala
The keynote speaker, former minister of power, and Chairman of Geometric Power Limited, Prof. Bartholomew Nnaji, underscored that the campaign for cleaner energy led by the European countries and their organisations is a worthy course. He said, however, that the attitude of most developing nations to the campaign had been less than enthusiastic for several years including trust deficit. He noted that when the Ukraine war started in February 2012, relations between Russia and Western Europe were severed and it affected energy security in Western Europe. The countries leading the campaigns against the use of fossil fuels suddenly went back to the use of cool fire plants which are said to be the worst pollution in human history.
The former minister noted that with everything going on in the world regarding countries like Germany, France, and Denmark, who were major campaigners for renewable energy being forced to remembrance the coal plants that they had left, it is apparent that energy security whether it comes from coal, nuclear or fossil fuels cannot be overlooked. He equally revealed that the United States is doing something about coal fire plants towards embracing cleaner plants, which is actually about nuclear power plants.
“Against the obvious backgrounds, it is understandable that many developing countries including oil and gas-rich countries do not trust the developed world in the campaign about cleaner energy. A more worrisome issue is that the extreme environmentalists are not highlighting the fact that such conversion is resulting in another form of pollution, as the water that comes from nuclear-powered plants can be extremely hazardous, neither are they telling us that the extraction of uranium (the main raw material in nuclear energy) constitutes an environmental hazard,” he stressed.
•Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye
Another keynote speaker, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, reiterated that global warming is a serious problem that should not be overlooked. According to him, “the global surface temperature has been generally on the increase as 21 out of the 22 hottest years has occurred since 2002 while it is on record that the year 2023 was one of the hottest years.” He stated that climate change is not just about weather changes alone. It is about the weather over a period which shows you the direction of its travels, as it was obvious the weather was changing in ways or manner that are not good. He raised major questions that Nigeria needs to answer.
“The average temperature in Nigeria has also been changing rapidly which will get worse. It is expected to rise by 3 degrees between now and 2060 or 2070 depending on Nigeria’s everyday experiences in flooding, the unstable nature of the weather patterns, the increase in urban heatwave, etc. The need for us to begin to make the transition to a greener economy cannot be overemphasised, but the question is ‘how do we ensure that this transition happens in a way that is just and fair? What kind of transition should Nigeria make and who should be responsible for them? We know that these weather and climate changes happen due to the way we use and get our energy which is mostly fossil fuels and Nigeria is an oil-dependent country. What will happen when we make a transition that is not well-defined?”
Prof. Okeke concluded by saying that one of the problems of the energy transition would be that some regions may be getting jobs more while others may not as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) projection shows that more jobs would be in areas where men are more suitable to do work more than women, which would be an issue of injustice as well as most of the climate change issues are not being caused by African people. Africa is only responsible for about 4% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere while China has about 22% amongst other countries. He warned on ensuring that those whose lives and livelihoods depend on oil should be well-taken care of, as well as the need to engage in a more global just transition with adequate compensation from the Western world. Also to hold the Nigerian government accountable for a thorough system change, to embrace policies that are equitable, fair and just for the benefit of everyone concerned, home and abroad.
In a goodwill message, the Programme Officer in charge of Climate Change in West Africa at the Ford Foundation, Mr Emmanuel Kuyole, stated that the fundamental changes that are occurring in the global systems about fossil fuels, gas, and coal has shifted in the society for over two centuries alongside global conversations about the nature of the energy systems and transition going forward.
“For patrol states like Nigeria where both economies have been predominantly driven by fossil fuels, the transition has very important implications. They include geopolitical, as the states that produce this oil and the power, they have from those resources will be challenged and reshaped. We also know that this transition is largely driven by minerals. All the renewable conversations that we’ll have are largely going to be driven by a lot more extraction of minerals. Therefore, for a country like Nigeria which has abundant mineral resources it has a lot of implications and we are already seeing significant shifts.
“As the Ford Foundation is a social foundation working to reduce inequalities across groups, we are particularly interested in how these shifts would happen, especially for communities and people whose lives and livelihoods are wrapped around extractions…to ensure we do not have a repeat of a Niger Delta ecological and environmental situations spreading across the country, especially, in minerals producing communities,” he said.
•Hon. Uche Onyeagocha
There was also a panel discussion with different seasoned professionals and academics like Prof. Chukwuma C. Ogbaga – A professor of Biology and Biotechnology at Philomath University; Hon. Uche Onyeagocha – a former Secretary to the Government of Imo State; Prof. Bassey Udom – a professor of Science and Environmental Education at the University of Abuja; Prof. Uwaoma Kalu Uche, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Gregory University, Uturu, Imo State. Kalu Uche coined the word ‘Energeocracy’ which advocates “energy by the people and for the people” while noting that Nigeria should get to a point where it can drive her energy transition. The two moderators were Dr. Asmau Benzies Leo, a gender and development expert and Dr Salamatu Fada – a renowned environmental professional with adept leadership and strong interpersonal skills, along with amazing youth corps members (Abiola Adebiyi and Amina Ibrahim Zarami) who spoke so eloquently about their works in contribution to renewable energy in Nigeria.
Other dignitaries present at the seminar included Dr Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye – Director, West Africa office of the Ford Foundation; Prof. Kayode Soremekun; Sulaiman Mande – Programme Officer, Democratic Governance Department at CISLAC of Ford Foundation; Nengi Obuoforibo – National Environmental Standard and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NASERA); a representative of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI); Idris A Idris – MD, Kaduna State Power and Supply Company; Halima Imam – the Executive Director of Climate Action Team, who spoke about “Briquettes” as an alternative to firewood among others.
The symposium was warmed up by the well-applauded and inspiring performance of a Poem titled “Revolutionizing Energy Transition”, by the excellent spoken word artist, Iheoma Uzomba.
