Nigeria World Energy Council Seeks Global Partnerships to Boost Energy Access, Reduce Food Wastage

By Chiemelie Eze, Antalya, Türkiye

The World Energy Council (WEC) Nigeria is seeking strategic partnerships with international energy organisations to expand electricity access, strengthen technical capacity and promote the productive use of energy across the country.
The Council’s Chief Insight Officer, Gabriel Aduda, disclosed this in an interview on the sidelines of the ongoing COP31 climate conference in Antalya, Türkiye. He highlighted the Council’s engagements with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC and Green Protocol amongst others.

Aduda said the engagements were aimed at establishing partnerships that would translate into tangible projects and contribute to the development of Nigeria’s energy sector.
He disclosed that the Council was working towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Green Protocol to promote and implement energy sustainability projects.

“We met with Green Protocol, who are hugely into energy sustainability. And we’re signing a memorandum of understanding between Green Protocol and World Energy Council, Nigeria. And we’re going to be driving projects in that area,” he said.

He added that WEC Nigeria was planning to convene stakeholders across the country’s energy ecosystem, bringing together policymakers, producers, consumers and businesses to strengthen coordination between policy formulation and implementation.

“We’re going to be convening the entire energy ecosystem around Nigeria where we bring policymakers together with consumers, producers, and businesses around energy. To see how we can more effectively align policies with deliverables, because oftentimes that gap is where we have problems,” he said.

On its engagement with IRENA, Aduda said the Council was exploring a framework for closer collaboration with the agency, noting that the Energy Commission of Nigeria, IRENA’s focal institution in the country, is also represented on the Council’s board.
He expressed concern that Nigeria had yet to fully leverage the opportunities offered by IRENA, despite the agency’s nearly two decades of existence.

“We have a very good footing to be able to work very closely with IRENA to see that we begin to deliver projects in Nigeria, following their almost two decades of existence. And we’re yet to show something. But now we’re coming up with something tangible to be able to pursue,” he said.

Aduda said discussions with the IEA were also focused on potential areas of collaboration, particularly access to energy data, technology and technical expertise. He added that the Council was equally engaging OPEC on opportunities for cooperation.

Nigeria’s Energy Transition and the Role of Fossil Fuels.
On Nigeria’s energy transition, Aduda maintained that the country should not abandon its fossil fuel resources but should instead prioritise more environmentally responsible methods of exploration and utilisation.

“At the end of the day, we are still advocates for fossil fuels.… We cannot run away from the minerals or the resources we have, to go chasing after what we do not know yet. But one thing we owe the world is to improve the responsibility with which we engage and explore fossil fuels,” he said.

He advocated increased research into cleaner oil and gas extraction technologies and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, stressing the need to balance resource development with environmental responsibility.

“I’m a very strong advocate in the fact that there is need for more research in oil and gas. How do we make extraction cleaner? And that is also part of the discussion we have put on the table here, because we totally refuse the phasing out of fossil fuels. But rather, let us do it more responsibly,” he added.

Solar Energy and the Need to Rethink Electricity Access
Aduda identified the growing adoption of solar energy as a significant development in Nigeria’s efforts to expand electricity access, particularly in rural communities and among low income households.
He noted that the country had yet to adequately document the scale of solar penetration, despite the increasing number of households and communities relying on solar panels, batteries and inverters to meet their basic electricity needs.

“Practically every rural community, every urban poor today, practically everybody has a solar panel above their roof. People have light, people are able to do the basics,” he said.

However, he cautioned that such decentralised and captive power arrangements were insufficient to support large scale production and manufacturing, underscoring the need to distinguish between basic electricity access and the availability of energy to drive economic development.

“Now, is that enough? No. Because captive power can hardly give us enough force to be able to enter into production, into manufacturing, into all that, which we also need to pay attention to,” he said.

He expressed optimism that WEC Nigeria’s Nigerian Energy Outlook 2027 would provide more comprehensive and reliable information on the country’s electricity access levels.

Grid Modernisation and State Electricity Markets
On the challenges confronting the energy sector, Aduda identified outdated transmission infrastructure as a major constraint to reliable electricity supply, calling for the modernisation of the national grid.

He also welcomed the Electricity Act 2023, which provides a framework for states to generate, transmit and distribute electricity within their jurisdictions, noting that close to 20 states had taken steps to harness the opportunities created by the legislation.

“We’ve seen that close to 20 states have taken the bull by the horn. Two or three of them are doing extremely well and improving access to their people. We expect that the others will also join them and do the same thing,” he said.

Aduda further noted that private investment in solar energy was enabling households and businesses to reduce their dependence on the national grid.

“I know places in Abuja, in Lagos today that 100 per cent are solar dependent. And I also make boast to tell you that so many homes in Nigeria today are solar dependent. They don’t even depend on traditional power anymore,” he said.

Nevertheless, he stressed that improvements in electricity access must be supported by credible and comprehensive data to accurately measure progress, particularly in rural communities.

“Our focus is to come to a time where every single Nigerian has access to light, no matter how little. And not only that, how do we improve their productivity as humans simply because they have improved access to light?” he said.

Energy Access as a Driver of Food Security
Aduda also highlighted the critical link between energy access and food security, drawing attention to the high levels of post harvest losses in the Benue Trough, one of Nigeria’s major agricultural production regions.
He disclosed that the Council had discussed the challenge with the Chairman of the North Central Development Commission, proposing the establishment of alternative energy powered agricultural hubs and cold storage facilities to help farmers preserve perishable produce.

“The entire Benue Trough is a very rich and productive region, especially perishable agricultural goods. But over 78 per cent of that is wasted every day, every year, annually,” he said.

He explained that the proposed facilities would enable farmers to aggregate their produce at designated hubs, where it could be stored in cold rooms before being transported to markets, thereby reducing post harvest losses and improving farmers’ incomes.

“All we need is to be able to build alternative energy powered agricultural hubs, cold rooms, so that farmers can gather in clusters, bring their products to these cold rooms, and then we store it for them. From there, we take them to the market,” he said.

According to Aduda, reliable energy access could also improve healthcare delivery, particularly by ensuring that primary healthcare centres have electricity to power refrigerators for the storage of vaccines and essential medicines.

“This is how energy can help us to improve agriculture, can help us to improve transportation, can help us to improve education, can help us to improve every area of our livelihood, including health,” he said.

Improving the Safety of Solar Installations
On concerns over fire incidents involving solar installations, Aduda said the energy community was examining the components and technical specifications of solar systems to identify potential causes and safer alternatives.

He acknowledged that some incidents had occurred, stressing the importance of continuous research, innovation and technological improvements to minimise associated risks.

“We are beginning to look at the sources and then the makeup. What are the chemical components? What are the technicalities of building those?” he said.

He added that the objective was to identify components that could contribute to fire incidents and explore alternative technologies and materials that would improve the safety and reliability of solar installations.

Aduda reiterated that WEC Nigeria’s broader objective was to ensure that electricity access went beyond providing basic lighting to households and translated into increased productivity, expanded economic opportunities and improved living standards for Nigerians.