Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s vice president on Tuesday reiterated the commitment of the government towards achieving zero carbon emission.
Osinbajo in his keynote address at the formal unveiling of iMax 10 Solar Power System in Lagos, said one major cause and consequence of the poverty crisis in developing countries like Nigeria was the lack of access to energy by millions of the population.
The vice president’s address focused on the Nigeria electrification project (NEP) and rural electrification agency/World Bank partnership to accelerate solar system adoption in Nigeria.
Osinbajo, who addressed participants via zoom, said if energy access issues were left unaddressed, Nigeria will continue to see more energy demand being addressed with high polluting consequences.
According to him, the rural electrification programme represents an important component of the government’s fight against climate change and the race to safely achieve energy access for millions and with zero carbon emissions.
According to him, the NEP has been the Federal Government’s flagship vehicle for promoting energy access leveraging the decentralised renewable energy solutions that aims to deploy alternative energy systems, including solar home systems in sparsely populated areas.
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“The bottom line is that Nigeria does not have enough power generated as at now. And even if we have it, we do not have extensive distribution network to take power to the last man.’’ We are in Nigeria to transform Africa, one community at a time,” Ibukun Awosika, the chairperson of the d.light board said.
According to her, the need to transform lives is the driving force of the d.light initiative. She disclosed that the company is expanding into the Nigerian market with over 25 million sustainable products including solar lanterns, solar home systems, TVs, radios and smartphones sold globally across over 70 countries.
Sam Goldman, co-founder and president, d.light, said that access to sustainable energy will not be possible except Nigeria and other players in the renewable energy ecosystem are able to solve the funding challenges in the sector.
“The reality is that we are still so far from where we need to be in terms of our population and their needs. Hence our target market are the low income individuals; not just the rural communities which is why the company adopts the ‘pay-as-you-go” model,” Goldman said.
Ned Tozun, co-founder and CEO, said that d.light has provided employment for over 6,000 people across Africa. According to him, the company’s target is lower-income individuals.
“They don’t have to look for the capital to buy. They look for signing-up, proving they have the ability to be able to pay every week – they have different system: every week, every month, every day – are different options that are available and as you increase your credibility ratio in terms of your performance, you then have opportunity to get into more,” Tozun said.
