Nigeria’s journey towards cleaner, affordable, and sustainable energy received a boost as key industry players unveiled new initiatives aimed at bridging the country’s energy gap, creating jobs, and localizing technology production.
Speaking at the launch of a mobile solar generator and youth bootcamp, CEO of Citibim Nigeria Limited, Abdul Gbadamosi, emphasized the need for innovative solutions to Nigeria’s energy crisis.
“Nigeria struggles with energy access. As you all know, generators are very prevalent in our businesses and households. Our team has taken the challenge of trying to provide a solution, which is the mobile solar generator that we are launching today. During the course of innovation, we struggled a lot with access to skills in the local economy,” he said.
He explained that the company is not only providing energy solutions but also building local capacity in emerging technologies.
“We looked at it and said, is it not possible for us to develop local skills in AI, geo-intelligence, virtual reality, That is why we are organising this Bootcamp today, so that we can encourage youths that there are a lot of opportunities in sustainability, in the green revolution, energy access, and of course, digital revolution.
“It will definitely create career pathways for them in innovative technologies. Of course, there are a lot of jobs that people are not aware of.
“People see AI today as just a product and they are consumers. However, AI can actually be a source of job creation for our youths. We have launched our sustainability dashboard, which aims to capture assets and map them, so you can see what is going on in the country.”
Gbadamosi highlighted that the company’s solar model allows users to generate income, turning clean energy into an economic opportunity.
“The aspect of our solar solution is that we have made it very easy for banks and financiers to support these people in acquiring the system. Not only that, we have also made the system in such a way that you can actually generate income.
“Just like our POS merchants generate income from transactions, you can generate income from clean energy transactions, where you can rent capsules to people in your immediate neighbourhood and make up to N20,000 to N30,000.
“We are creating an opportunity for people to generate income and we are creating access to energy in the areas where they are doing business. Lastly, before you go, you know restarting is easy, but sustaining is another challenge.
“How do you intend to sustain this programme? We are demonstrating that by looking at the events we are doing today. We are training about 120 youths, including corp members, students and people that are also on their young career pathways. We want to enable these skills so that as we expand, we have more people that we can employ that can support our growth agenda.
“We have the support of the government, we have the support of the international players and we also have our internal capabilities to develop them.”
Also speaking, CEO of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, Mustapha Abdullahi, revealed that the Federal Government is taking decisive steps to boost local battery and solar component production.
“Nigeria is very rich, in terms of mineral resources. We have lithium in almost every state in the country. And it baffles us why is Nigeria still important lithium battery, the government is actually taking a very huge step in localizing and domesticating our technology. We are talking to so many investors to come and scale up and generate and start producing those batteries in here in the country.
“We’ve taken a very huge step. Last week, I was in China, and also in London to sign the final investment decision to sign an MOU with the largest producers of the solar components. They are coming to this country to set up factories to start producing this.
“Nigerians are going to start producing, localizing our technology, not just relying on China or in foreign export. The day we start producing in mass, Mr. President is ready to ban importation on anything, whether it’s lithium battery or even the solar panels into the country, because we are taking a practical step.
“The Energy Commission of Nigeria, already has a pilot. We have a pilot solar panel in this factory in this country, solar modules that produce about 10,000 in a year, but that is too small.
“That is why we are bringing investors to come and scale that up, because already the market is there.
“Investors are coming to me, are coming to other agencies to say they are ready to invest in this country.
“And don’t forget that Mr. President is also committed to integrate our energy generation in this country. He spoke directly to the people that I want to give you 30 per cent on our energy mix to be renewable from the renewable energy. That means our strategy is on solar, is on wind, and is on hydro, not on gas anymore.”
On the natural gas front, Investment Facilitation Coordinator, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative,Jide Awolowo, disclosed the progress being made to provide Nigerians with cheaper fuel alternatives.
“We have coverted over 100,000 cars. What the PICNG is supposed to do is move people away from petrol. So as you know, once the fuel subsidy was removed, petrol prices became much more expensive. So the President was thinking, how can I provide a cheaper, cleaner option for the Nigerian public? That’s how the PICNG came about.
“We have 100,000 cars already converted now, and we’re aiming to convert about a million by 2027, I think we’ve been seeing some impact in the sector.
“We had about 11 fuel stations for CNG. Now we have over 60. We’re expecting another 175 to come in by the end of the year. We have also attracted over a $1bn dollars in investments by the private sector. This is not even by the Nigerian government, into the sector, which shows you that the sector is very viable, and a lot of people are jumping on the CNG bandwagon.
“We have over 300 conversion centers right now. There are more people coming into the sector. Conversion centers need to set up for you to employ these people. Yes, we are training them for the future. By 2027, we’re expecting to have over 10,000 conversion centers. If you have 10,000 conversion centers and you don’t have people to key into work for these conversion centers, then it doesn’t make any sense.
“While we are waiting for these conversion centers to set up, we have to be training our youth so that there is a ready labor market for them to draw from.
“A brand new sector takes time to grow. The petrol sector took how many years to grow? Not to talk of the CNG sector.
“It will take time, but I am sure that we will get there. We have a great team.
“We are partnering with a number of universities to even train students in the art of the CNG technology just so we can hand it over to them.”
