The Federal Government and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation are working to cut down energy consumption by industries in Nigeria.
The Federal Government made this known recently in Abuja at the inauguration of a Project Steering Committee on ‘Improving Nigeria’s Industrial Energy Performance and Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production through Pragmatic Approaches, and the Promotion of Innovation in Clean Technology Solutions’.
Sharon Ikeazor, minister of State for Environment, said the Committee would execute the project within a selected small, medium and large scale industries through programmatic approaches and promotion of innovation in clean technology solutions, with the objective of accelerating the adoption of industrial energy efficiency and to improve enterprise environmental performance under the wider umbrella of Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) best practices and innovative approaches within selected small, medium and large scale industrial enterprises in Nigeria.
“Initial manufacturing industries in which the Energy management systems (EnMS) Energy System Optimization (ESO) and Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production(RECP) methodologies will be introduced, piloted and demonstrated have been selected in the steel, petrochemical, textils and food and beverage sub sectors in Nigeria”
The Minister said the steering committee members would bring their technical expertise in guiding this project to a successful conclusion.
“To protect ourselves and the environment from the harmful effects of inefficient production processes, there is the need to encourage best practices in our industrial processes and its success requires the participation of all stakeholders”.
According to Ikeazor, “The general adoption of the cleaner production strategy can alleviate the serious problems of climate change, air and water pollution, global warning, land degradation, etc. Hence the successful implementation of this project is a priority.”
Mansur Ahmed, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, said that Nigeria cannot be left behind in the global quest for a change from mere industrial development to clean industrial development, as the pressure on the environment is go a long way in inhibiting efficiency of human and physical capital.
“To implement this, there’s need for all stakeholders to agree on the need for a review of existing environmental policies with a view to finetunning them for a better and cleaner environment” – he said.
This project, according to the MAN boss “seeks to create a win-win environment for both the operators and the regulators, and as such we must capitalise on this new dawn to create an atmosphere of trust…”.
For his part, Jean Bakole, Country’s Representative and Regional Director, UNIDO, said project is aimed at getting the Nigerian industries to develop an expert base which could be exported to other African countries.
He told the participants that industries account for one-third of total energy consumption and almost 40 per cent of worldwide CO2 emissions, as the need to reduce energy consumption, environmental degradation and resources depletion by industries in emerging economies was critical.
Bakole also expressed hope that the project would address questions on how industries improve their efficiency, increase profitability, operate at international best standards, comply with regulations and maintain improves relationship with policy makers.
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