An expert in the power sector, Dr Magnus Onuoha, has urged the Federal Government to concentrate on-grid based electricity generation, transmission and distribution in urban areas as a solution to the nation’s power challenge.
Onuoha said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to him, apart from vandalism, the high density of electricity demand in the country also accounts for the deteriorating state of all the electricity value chains in Nigeria.
He, therefore, advocated the concentration of on-grid based electricity on urban areas that has 30 per cent of the nation’s population with high density of electricity demand.
He said it would reduce the pressure on on-grid based electricity.
Onuoha further advised the deployment of off-grid solutions to the rural areas with 70 per cent of the population with low demand of electricity density.
He said that the economies of scale accrued to utilising on-grid energy solutions did not favour rural electrification.
He said that the off-grid areas would have to depend on alternative solutions, noting that Nigeria’s comprehensive renewable energy policy should drive the process.
Onouha, who is also the President of the Sustainable Energy Practitioners of Nigeria (SEPAN), advised the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to invent itself as the renewable energy development agency.
He said it was germane for the establishment to focus on the promotion of off-grid and mini-grid renewable energy solutions, especially in the rural areas.
He also advised the agency to work with the organised private sector investors to achieve accelerated rural electrification for over 70 per cent of Nigerians.
The expert advised the government not to relent in its effort at strategic engagement of Niger-Delta militants.
This, he said, would address the economic and environmental dangers of pipeline vandalism.
He said the call for the expansion of the energy services in Nigeria was hinged on the drive to archieve renewable energy and energy efficient sources. (NAN)