Opinion – Nigeria is experiencing a silent energy crisis.
About 95 million Nigerians depend on wood for their daily cooking.
Wood energy constitutes 90% of household energy use and today the demand for wood far outstrips supply, resulting in rising prices. Despite a national policy to promote a transition away from wood energy use, prospects remain bleak. Over 92% of Nigerians – approximately 130 million people live in poverty. Poverty and weak policies present a critical roadblock to fuel substitution.
According to the WHO, Nigeria has the highest rate of deaths attributable to solid fuel use, a staggering 79,000 deaths annually (mainly women and children) and 4% of the national burden of disease.
Though several socio-economic and political drivers of Nigeria’s poverty are well known, the role of energy in wealth creation has received less attention. However the fact remains that without access to sustainable energy, the global MDGs and the national seven point agenda of the president cannot be achieved.
The issue of energy poverty in Nigeria and Africa as a whole is not an intractable technical and economic challenge, but a political challenge. What is required is the will to realign governance structures and interests to address energy poverty and empower people to make choices that improve their lives.
The energy sector is ripe for a new wave of reforms. The benefits of 20 years of energy sector liberalization have bypassed the poor. Decentralization of energy governance, increased participation of women in energy sector decision-making and budget tracking of energy expenditure to ensure equitable allocation are needed. These elements of energy governance will deliver new opportunities for the poor and address key concerns such as poverty, deforestation and climate change.
Specific steps must be taken to address these issues. First, we can strengthen energy governance reforms by decentralizing energy governance from the federal government to local government levels with a focus on energy services important to the lives of poor people.
Secondly, we must engage the political process. Today, energy governance is sustained by vested interests. What is required is a move from analysis to advocacy, engagement and coalition building around the right to energy for human development.
Thirdly, we must pursue active market development for efficient wood stoves. This includes creation quality efficient woodstoves, increased promotion, financing and the development of policies that address the energy situation of the poor.
Finally, the role of international development agencies in making the energy sector serve the needs of the poor cannot be over emphasized. Strategies that can be employed include setting global energy access targets, where there is political commitment to reduce, by half the number of people dependent on traditional biomass energy within a decade. The development of energy rights and setting of access targets must begin in Nigeria.
In the interim, quick win areas for Nigeria include rapid scaling up of market development initiatives for the supply of improved efficient wood cooking stoves that reduces by 50% the deaths attributable to solid fuel use in households, address poverty and deforestation as well as provide a role for the poor in climate change mitigation. In that way, we will begin to address Nigeria’s silent energy crisis.
Adeola Ijeoma Eleri is with the International Centre for Energy, Environment & Development.
Source – http://allafrica.com/stories/201003250675.html
