A PRESENTATION

ON

ENERGY AS A PANACEA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA 

BY

Engr. OLABISI M. DARAMOLA

(M.Sc., NIEEE, NSE, COREN)

At

WORLD ENGINEERING DAY, NIGERIA SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS

MARCH 2020
 INTRODUCTION
• Energy plays a major role in the economic growth and development, as well as poverty eradication and
security of any nation. It is considered as an important ingredient to development and remain a vital
and indispensable input to economic growth. It is undoubtedly, the driving force of industrialization
(Onyegegbu, 2003).

• Energy lies at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Ensuring access to
affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all will open a new world of opportunities for
billions of people through new economic opportunities and jobs, empowered women, children and
youth, better education and health, more sustainable, equitable and inclusive communities, and
greater protections from, and resilience to, climate change (SDG-7, 2018).

• A robust solution must be found to end the nation's energy crises. Nigeria receives a huge amount of
solar radiation, has abundant wind energy resources, and large deposits of fossil fuel, as well as
enormous hydro-power resources from Niger and Benue Rivers. However, of these, about 80% of
hydro-power remains untapped, the total 5.5KW-hr/m 2 /day of solar radiation is not utilized, and
wind energy resources remain unexploited (ECN-UNDP, 2005).

• The solution lies in creating a mixed supply of energy in which yet untapped renewable resources are
combined with abundant non-renewable fossil fuel, including the massive quantities of gas wasted
from crude oil exploitation.
 BACKGROUND
To appreciate the concepts underpinning energy as a panacea for sustainability development, it
is informative to consider the concept and definitions of energy and sustainable development.
 Energy can never be created nor destroyed but be converted from one form to another with
energy conversion technologies.
• Energy Forms: Energy exist in variety of forms. It includes chemical energy (biomass, natural gas,
petroleum and coals), electrical energy (lightnings), mechanical energy (energy in rotating engine
shaft), nuclear energy (uranium), heat energy etc.
 Sustainable Development: it was defined by the 1987 Brundtland Report of the World
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED, 1987) as “development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs”.
• Energy Sustainability: In some ways, the concept of energy sustainability is simply the
application of the general definitions of sustainability to energy. In other ways, energy
sustainability involves the provision of energy services in a sustainable manner, which in turn
necessitates that energy services be provided for all people in ways that, now and in the future,
are sufficient to provide basic necessities, affordable, not detrimental to the environment, and
acceptable to communities and people.
 ENERGY SITUATION IN NIGERIA
• Nigeria is Africa's energy giant. It is the continent's most prolific oil-producing
country.
• Energy resources in Nigeria include: Crude oil, Natural Gas, Coal, Tar Sand and
Renewable (Biomass, Hydro, Solar, Wind, etc.).
• It ranks second to Algeria in natural gas (Sambo, 2008).
• Several energy resources are available in Nigeria in abundant proportions.
Currently estimated oil reserve in Nigeria of 36.2 billion barrels.
• Presently, Nigeria has estimated hydropower reserve of 11,000MW

 The 36.2 billion barrels of oil in reserve will be depleted be 30 – 36 years period

 Table 1 and Table 2 show various conventional and non-conventional energy

sources and their estimated reserves in Nigeria.
 ENERGY SITUATION IN NIGERIA
• Table 1. Nigeria’s Conventional Energy Resources

Resources in Energy units (billion %Total conventional

Resources Reserve
tonnes) energy

Crude oil 36.2 billion barrels 4.896 21.0

Natural gas 4293 billion m3 4.465 24.8

Coal and lignite 2.7 billion tonnes 1.882 12.7

Tar sands 31 billion barrels of Oil equivalent 4.216 28.4

Large Scale
10, 000MW 1.954(100yrs) 13.1
Hydropower

Conventional/Commercial Energy
Total 14.859 100%
resources

• Source: Enete, C.I and Alabi, M.O (2011)

ENERGY SITUATION IN NIGERIA
Table 2: Nigeria’s Non-conventional Energy Resources

Resources Reserves Reserves (billion tonnes)

Fuel wood 43.3 million tonnes 1.6645 (over 100 years)

Animal wastes

And crop residue 144 million tonnes 3.024 (over 100 years)

Small scale hydropower 734.2 MW 0.143 (over 100 years)

1.0 kWm-2
Solar radiation -
Land area (peak)

Wind 2.0-4.0 ms-1 -

Source: Enete, C.I and Alabi, M.O (2011)

Energy Situation of Nigeria
• According to the statistics from the International 10.6%
6.8%0.4%

Energy Agency (IEA), total Nigerian primary

energy supply was 118,325 Kilotons of Oil
Equivalent (ktoe) - excluding electricity trade - in 82.2%
2011.

• As depicted in the figure 1, biomass and waste

dominated with 82.2%. Renewable energy
sources only accounted for a small share of the Biomass and waste Oil Natural gas Hydropower

energy supply. For instance hydropower only ac

Figure 1: Energy Supply by Source
counted for 0.4%. Wind and solar are also
utilized, but at an insignificant level at present.

• According to the global initiative on accessible,

clean and efficient energy - Sustainable Energy
For All, little progress has been made with
regards to providing access to non-solid cooking
fuels since 1990. As visible in the figure 2, in
2010, only 26% of the population had access to
non-solid cooking fuels with a big difference
between urban and rural areas Figure 2: Access cooking fuels in rural and urban areas in 2010 (in %)
 THE NIGERIA ENERGY CHALLENGE
 Increasing Demand and Meager supply of energy: It has been a great challenge to our development, with
increasing population not balanced by an adequate energy development programme.
• The recurrent severe shortages of the petroleum product market of which kerosene and diesel are the
most prominent. Nigeria has five domestic refineries owned by the government with a capacity to process
450,000 barrels of oil per day, yet imports constitute more than 75% of petroleum product requirements.
 The incessant power generation failure has grossly affected the economy, seriously slowing down
development in rural and sub-rural settlements.
 The transmission networks are old and at the point of system collapse on any given day. Should more
energy be generated, the transmission network is unable to carry any additional power loading.
 Concentration of energy supply to the cities and industries thereby creating an energy imbalance within
the country's socio-economic and landscape. People in rural areas depend on burning wood and traditional
biomass for their energy needs, great deforestation, emitting greenhouse gases, and polluting the
environment, creating global warming and environmental concern.
 The sole dependence on central generation (Hydro and thermal sources) are inadequate to meet the
energy need of the people.
 THE WAY FORWARD
• Accelerate the pace of transition towards renewable energy, especially in end-use sectors
such as transport, buildings and industry, to combat climate change and realize substantial
economic, health and environmental benefits. The use of renewable energy sources will reduce
the over dependence on the burning of fossil fuel.
• Develop policies on energy efficiency and integrate them into the current energy policies. A
comprehensive and coherent energy policy is essential in guiding the citizens towards an
efficient usage of its energy resources.
• Scale up investments in energy efficiency across all sectors of the economy, supported by
well-designed, evidence-based policies, as well as by regional, national and local action plans.
• Use of solar and wind energy for irrigation water pumping and farm electricity supply.
• Scale up capacity-building and education, with renewed, cross-sectoral approaches, to
develop human and institutional capacities and required skills in support of universal energy
access and energy sector transformation.
• Enhance innovation systems, including research, development, deployment and diffusion in
the design and operation of the whole energy system, and especially in the end-use sectors of
transport, industry and buildings.
WAY FORWARD
• Nigeria should strive for a well rounded energy mix, combining the available
renewable energy with the non-renewable energy fossil fuels.
• All the energy thus generated should be fed into the national grid, creating
adequate mix of energy from the different sources and having a compact energy
development process which will be suitable, sustainable, constantly available,
environmentally friendly and economically viable in the long term national
energy plan.
• Finally, Government should invest in the Nigeria energy sector immensely by
carrying out total restructuring of both the oil and electricity sector.
Conclusion
• From the energy outlook of Nigeria, it is very clear that the energy
demand is very high and is increasing while the supply remains
inadequate, Considering that energy is a limited resource, it is
important for us a nation to use the minimum level and to obtain
maximum economic output from the energy used. Renewable energy
and energy efficiency are two components that should go together to
achieve sustainable development in Nigeria. The need to conserve the
present energy generated in the country using energy-efficient
products and the appropriate practices is essential for sustainable
development.
REFERENCES
• Enete, C.I and Alabi, M.O (2011), ‘Potential Impacts of Global Climate Change on Power and Energy Generation’,
Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology (www.scientificpapers.org), Issue 6,
pp 1-14.
• Energy Commission of Nigeria and United Nations Development Programme (ECN-UNDP). 2005. Renewable
energy master plan: final draft report available on [http://www.iceednigeria.org/REMP%20Final%20Report.pdf, 17
June 2007].
• IEA, "Nigeria primary energy demand and GDP in the Africa Case, 2010-2040", IEA, Paris
https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/nigeria-primary-energy-demand-and-gdp-in-the-africa-case-2010-
2040
.
• Onyegegbu, S.O., 2003. Renewable Energy Potentials and Rural Energy Scenarios in Nigeria. In. Renewable Energy
for Rural Industrialization and Development in Nigeria, Yumkella and B. Garba (Eds). United Nations Industrial
Development Organization, Australia, pp: 5-15.
• Outcome document of the Global SDG 7 Conference (2018). Available at
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17977Outcome_Summmary_Global_SDG7_Conferen
ce_Feb_20181.pdf.
• Sambo AS (2008) Matching Electricity Supply with Demand in Nigeria. International Association of Energy
Economics 4:32–36.
• World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). 1987. Our Common Future; Oxford University
Press: Oxford, UK.
THANK YOU