If Nigeria is serious about ending this destructive dependence on crude oil, we need to take the bold step of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels with an ambitious clean energy plan

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Our first priority must be to get all new industrial concerns across all 774 local government areas to generate their own power rather than rely on the national grid to supply them with electricity

[2] We then need to get Innoson Motors to start manufacturing solar panels as they are the most needed piece of industrial equipment in Nigeria today. Solar panels are far more urgent than assembling cars and I am at a loss as to why your Nnewi factory is not churning them out by the millions on a daily basis. Every country in the world has one industrial giant that spurs its development. Innoson is our national manufacturer and is central to Nigeria's industrialisation

[3] Our government then needs to offer interest-free loans in conjunction with banks to anyone who wants to buy a solar panel. Under my proposals, traders will get up to N10,000 from the government through the Bank of Industry (BoI). Under the existing Trader Moni programme, if the government gives you N10,000 and you refund it within six months, then you are qualified to collect N15,000. If you pay back the sum of N15,000 you are qualified to get N20,000. If we introduce this with solar panels, within two years, we will have numerous solar millionaires as happened with the GSM market

[4] We then need to get the National Assembly to pass a law compelling every one of our 774 local government areas to have a microgrid connecting all the homes and businesses within its jurisdiction. If we can generate the power from solar, distributing it across a local government area is never going to be as traumatic as the headaches we have with the national grid whereby you have to transfer electricity from Lagos to Maiduguri or from Calabar to Sokoto

[5] Building mega hydro-electric plants is good but they will still leave the problem of distribution unsolved. In contrast, if every local government area and every state government is compelled by law to generate its own power, distribution ceases to be an issue. Each state government must thus be given a power generation target

[6] We must place a punitive tax on solar panels imports of about 300% to force manufacturers to locate their plants in the country. This consumerism is simply going too far now and something drastic needs to be done. It is highly embarrassing that we shamelessly import generators, so must not make the same mistake with solar panels

[7] We must build four offshore waste-to-power plants in Eta Oko, Brass, Nembe and Umon Island with an electrify generation target of about 5,000MW. We will also engage global customers with international waste delivered by sea

[8] It is estimated that around 3% of global annual plastic waste enters the oceans each year. An estimated 299m tonnes of plastics were produced in 2013 but in 2025, the annual input is estimated to be about twice greater. Bear in mind the global demand for plastic waste management market was valued at approximately $24bn in 2017 and generated revenue of around $29.8bn by the end of 2024. Imagine what Nigeria could do with just $10bn of this. We should set ourselves a revenue target with regards to generating money from converting waste to power

[9] Coastal waste-to-power plants will be surrounded by wind farms, with undersea pipes constructed to ferry local waste to them. One mega power plant would then be constructed on the coast to convert all their power to electricity and our target should be to create 100,000 jobs

[10] As part of this project, we will also have factories converting waste into finished goods as is done elsewhere. For instance, in Beijing, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde constructed a Smog Free Tower that captures carbon from the atmosphere, refines it and releases the clean air back into the city and then converts the compact carbon into diamonds. This technology is incredibly effective as the air around the tower is 55% to 75% cleaner than the rest of the city. This tower, which has been used in Rotterdam, Beijing, Tianjin and Dalian, sucks up 30,000 cubic meters of polluted air per hour

ayoakinfe@gmail.com