Why solar energy can provide lifeline to Nigeria’s vulnerable economy

The Nigerian mini-grid market is expected to generate growing interest from developers in 2021

Nigeria’s economy needs quick and stable growth over the next few years if it is to exit one of its most painful recessions in recent history and lift millions of people out of extreme poverty.

To achieve this growth, Nigeria will require a lot of energy, regardless of what sector gives the growth. In agriculture, fertilisers, tractors, and combine harvesters are needed to make the sector more productive would all require energy. Energy is also required to power computers, phones, data centres, and communication infrastructure that the technology sector needs to work.

To catapult Nigeria’s economic growth and match it to the growing population, most stakeholders have recommended that the country needs to adopt a faster, cheaper and more sustainable electrification expansion strategy.

They suggested that adopting clean sources of energy is not just a sustainable choice, but a robust and reliable decision that will ensure the economy is kept running long after the coronavirus pandemic is over.

“The arguments for scaling up access to solar power are compelling,” the World Economic Forum reported this month.

A few weeks ago, the World Bank estimated that Nigeria’s revenues will fall by the equivalent of at least 2 percent of gross domestic product in 2020 alone as a result of the oil price slump. Remittances, which made up about 5 percent of GDP last year, are set to fall as much as 20 per cent this year.

“First, solar is increasingly affordable (costs have fallen five times in the past decade) and more viable for poor communities than the current alternative: unhealthy and polluting diesel generators, which are expensive to operate and add to carbon emissions,” reports the World Economic Forum.