Should Nigeria care about renewable energy or an energy crisis?

Most Nigerians don’t believe the world is heading for an energy crisis. And why should they, after all, they have other things to worry about, like just plain living, or getting money to sustain their families. However, I believe the Nigerian economy is getting better, and Nigerians are living better, and will have more and more access to disposable income. Which brings us back to the issue at hand: is there a looming energy crisis ahead? There are only two times Nigerians consider the issue of energy: (1) when we run into our infamous times of fuel scarcity, and (2) when our wonderful friends at PHCN aka, NEPA, “take the light,” otherwise known as a power outage. Here’s why we should care about both of those.

1. Nigeria is one of the largest oil producing nations in the world and still, we export our oil to other countries, where the oil is refined into the finest quality petrol and then sold back to us at two or three times what we sold it to them for. Of course, while all this is happening, many foreigners and a few Nigerians are getting exorbitantly rich in the process. Add to that formula the artificial fuel scarcity that is created quarterly by the importers, and the wealth being made increases exponentially. And as long as there is money to be made, the crisis will remain. Perhaps we should start thinking about alternative fuels for our vehicles, or even start thinking about manufacturing our own vehicles which will use alternative fuels.

2. PHCN, or as the students are calling it now, “Problem Has Changed Names.” Also known as NEPA. For as long as I can remember, and that’s the majority of my 35 years, we have always had power problems in Nigeria. Let me ask you something. Would you want your children to grow up in a country where there are still NEPA outages and have them tell their children about it? I don’t know about you, but my answer is NO! In my case, that would have been a total of 70 or more years with NEPA problems. Businesses in Nigeria are having a problem running at a profit because they have to spend so much money on diesel, and in return, they have to increase their prices. Individuals can’t consider building a new home without buying a generator so that they’ll have light at night. The list of NEPA problems goes on.
So you see, when it comes energy problems in Nigeria, we are already experiencing an energy crisis. How this crisis will be solved, is completely up to us. That’s where you and I come in…along with www.biuenergy.org.