- An initiative that is better late than never
The Federal Government is moving closer to fulfilling its promise to get more creative and aggressive about improving power generation in the country. The first beneficiary of its readiness to take advantage of innovation in renewable energy technology is the federal university system. A combination of efforts by Ministry of Power’s new emphasis on off-grid Independent Power Projects (IPPs) and Ministry of Education’s Energising Education Programme Initiative (EEPI) through Public Private Partnership has commenced provision of uninterrupted power to 40 federal universities and teaching hospitals. This project is an outgrowth of Nigeria’s earlier agreement with the German government under the Nigeria-German Partnership Project to build solar farms across 40 tertiary institutions.
At a ceremony for signing of Memorandum of Understanding on behalf of the Federal Government by the Rural Electricity Agency (REA) and some vice chancellors, on provision of 10 megawatts of electricity to meet power needs of each of the universities, the Vice Chancellor of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Professor Abdulrahman Ibrahim, aptly remarked: ”I believe it has the potential to do a lot for the universities. I want to commend the stakeholders for this particular innovation.”
We commend the initiators of the project: ministries of power and education and the German government for this long-overdue intervention in decades-old infrastructural deficit that had, to say the least, watered down quality of research, teaching and learning in our universities. The readiness for innovation that informs this initiative on the part of the Federal Government contrasts starkly with discouragement of University of Ife, Ile-Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University) to make its dam produce electricity in the late 1970s, on the excuse that generation of electricity, like establishment of railway, was sealed in the envelope of central government’s Exclusive List.
This project illustrates that, despite continued failure of post-privatisation generating and distributing companies to meet industrial and residential electricity needs, citizens can benefit from new opportunities made possible by investment in alternative energy in countries such as Finland, Germany, Spain, UK, USA, China, and India. Given the negative impact of inadequate electricity in the last 40 years on quality of education in the country, we welcome the synergy between the power and education ministries to strengthen the education sector through provision of critical infrastructure. When successfully completed, off-grid solar power for higher institutions will end suffering of university students and teachers, while energising research output of universities and quality of health care at the teaching hospitals.
Moreover, completion of the project provides a new opportunity for the country to benefit from new technology for alternative energy, a promise that current local centres for nuclear, solar, and other renewable energy had been unable to meet after three decades of existence. Apart from seizing the opportunity of reliable energy to improve their research on solar power, the universities need to explore opportunities for other forms of renewable energy that Nigeria’s environment can support: biomass, wind, ocean waves, and conversion of waste to power.
For example, some of the large cities: Lagos, Kano, Ibadan, Kaduna, and Port Harcourt are fertile grounds for waste-to-energy technology. These forms of renewable power can add to the country’s energy mix and provide emission-free power to both grid-connected and off-grid renewable energy for other levels of education, currently starved of electricity. Lack of electricity for pre-university education can diminish gains from uninterrupted power to universities sourcing students from secondary schools with little or no access to power and adequate information.
While commending all the initiators of this project, we urge the Federal Government to provide all the support needed to ensure the initiative does not migrate to the list of the country’s abandoned projects. We also enjoin state governments to consider similar projects for state universities, polytechnics, general hospitals, and primary health centres.
