Nigeria’s Quiet Forces in the Global Energy Transition

By Tosin Clegg

While global conversations about the energy transition often focus on major powers – Europe, the U.S., China – Nigeria’s voice is rarely amplified. Yet behind the scenes, there are Nigerians in laboratories and research institutions abroad making important contributions. One of Nigeria’s quiet forces in the global energy transition is a young engineer whose work is shaping how the world thinks about clean energy. Among them is Dr. Chinonyelum Udemu, whose journey from Benin City to the University of Hull in the United Kingdom shows how talent from Nigeria is helping to design the future of energy.

Her career is rooted in a simple but urgent goal: how to produce cleaner energy without worsening climate change. She specializes in process modelling and simulation, tools that help predict how chemical plants and reactors will behave when scaled up from the laboratory to industry. Through this work she has developed methods for producing large-scale hydrogen in ways that capture carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere. This matters because hydrogen is increasingly seen as a fuel that could power industries, vehicles and even homes without the pollution linked to oil and gas.

Dr. Udemu’s research is also about economics. She has examined the costs of producing large volumes of low-carbon hydrogen and compared different technologies to show which ones are affordable and practical. For a country like Nigeria, which flares huge amounts of natural gas every year, these ideas could be game-changing. Instead of burning off gas, the country could turn it into hydrogen while capturing the carbon. This would cut waste, create new industries and open up opportunities in a global market that is beginning to reward cleaner fuels.
Her achievements underline a wider story about Nigerians in science and engineering. Many, like Dr. Udemu, work outside the country because research funding and infrastructure are still limited at home. Yet their work continues to carry lessons for Nigeria. Clean energy solutions developed abroad can be adapted locally if the right investments and policies are made. The challenge is not a lack of talent but a need to create an environment where such expertise can thrive within Nigeria’s own borders.

Dr. Udemu represents the potential of a generation of Nigerian engineers quietly influencing global debates on climate and sustainability. She proves that Nigeria’s contribution to the energy transition does not have to come only from its oil and gas fields but also from its people – people whose skills, persistence and creativity are already shaping tomorrow’s energy systems. As the world moves toward a low-carbon future, Nigeria’s quiet forces abroad may become some of its loudest assets at home.