Former Minister of Power and Founder/Chairman of Geometric Power Limited, Professor Barth Nnaji, will headline the Symposium on Energy Transition billed to take place in Abuja on Friday, May 24, 2024, even as Vice President Kashim Shettima is expected to be the Special Guest of Honour.
The symposium, with the theme: “Energy Transition in an Oil-dependent Economy”, will have Professor Nnaji as the keynote speaker alongside Professor Kayode Soremekun and Professor Chukwumerije Okereke. The event, which promises to be an intellectual harvest, will also feature a vast array of discussants.
The event, being put together and hosted by Development Agenda Magazine, is geared towards the sensitisation of the general public and the government on the global urgency that is this energy transition and the need for a compass of social equity in its navigation.
The global energy transition is a journey that spans over three decades. It is a movement towards jettisoning fossil fuels including oil, natural gas and coal for cleaner energy options like wind and solar as well as lithium-ion batteries. This is seen globally as an essential climate action aimed at reducing global temperatures and thereby mitigating the effects of climate change.
The symposium, according to the organisers, provides an opportunity for stakeholders to evaluate Nigeria’s contributions in this regard and proffering ways of supporting government, corporate and individual actions towards a socially equitable energy transition.
“This transition has more profound implications for Nigeria as we are not only facing the consequences of climate change but are still largely a monocultural oil-dependent economy even when we are among the countries with the least emissions of carbon dioxide in the world,” said Mr Paddy Ezeala, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Development Agenda Magazine, and Convener of the Symposium.
“It is against this background that we will be witnessing an intellectual dissection of our energy poverty, green growth and our individual and collective efforts towards energy competitiveness and cleanliness,” he added.
While Professor Bartholomew Nnaji is a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, an innovator and one of the inventors of the E-Design Concept, Professor Kayode Soremekun is a Nigerian academic, author and the third vice chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State.
A renowned climate and development scholar, Professor Chukwumerije Okereke is a Professor of Global Climate Governance and Public Policy at University of Bristol, UK and also the Director of the Centre of Climate Change and Development at the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo, Ebonyi State.
Special guests expected at the event also include Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, Minister of Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo and Minister of State, Environment and Ecological Management, Dr Ishaq Kunle Salako.
The symposium will also have in attendance select students from various Nigerian universities, representatives of non-governmental organisations, international development organisations, diplomats, academics and women organisations.
