A don, Prof. Adisa Bello, has urged the Federal Government to diversify energy mix with renewable energy source.
Bello, who is of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, made the call while delivering the institution’s 45th inaugural lecture on Friday, June 18, 2021 in Bauchi.
The inaugural lecture was entitled “Deploying Renewable Energy Strategies for Decarbonisation of Nigeria’s Energy Need for Emotional Intelligence”.
According to him, Nigeria’s current energy mix is dominated by fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, adding, however, that to attain the vision 20:2020, Nigeria needs to diversify its energy mix with renewable energy source.
‘’Nigeria has vast renewable resources that include small and large hydro power, solar, wind and biomass,” he said.
Bello stressed that utilisation of the nation’s renewable energy resources would reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuel and provide an economically-stable source of energy to the power generation mix.
The don noted that Nigeria needed to develop a technologically-driven renewable energy sector that would harness its resources to compliment fossil fuel consumption and guarantee energy security.
According to the professor, more than 60 million Nigerians are presently not connected to the national grid.
“A total installed generation capacity stands is 12,522 megawatts (MW), while an average operational generation capacity is 3,879MW of which 7.4 per cent is lost in transmission and up to 27.7 per cent rejected at distribution level.
“This leaves Nigeria with just about 2,519MW. Consequently, Nigerians self-generate a significant portion of their electricity need with a highly polluting off-grid alternative and at cost estimated to be more than twice the cost of grid-based power,” he stated.
Bello, however, urged the federal government to put in place a well-coordinated and coherent energy policy that would serve as a blueprint for sustainable development, supply and utilisation of energy resources within the economy.
In his remarks, Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Muhammad Abdulazeez, described the inaugural lecture as another milestone for the institution.
Abdulazeez, who noted that the lecture had not been held in the last three years, expressed happiness that the jinx had been broken with the 45th edition of the lecture.
He said that the inaugural lecture series had grown to become a very powerful point from which many, in and out of the academia, were drawing inspiration and finding answers to their problems.
By Ahmed Kaigama
