Walking the talk on energy mix menu for Nigeria

Energy and climate actions are two critical global issues that bother the economy and global environmental sustainability. It is a natural phenomenon that life and energy must kiss because, without energy (the ability to do work), life cannot be sustained. They are mutually inclusive at all times. Energy security, therefore, occupies a very strategic place in man’s existence and life’s sustainable maintenance on planet earth. Life on the other hand cannot be sustained without food (which on its own, is the “fuel” that man burns off through biochemical process of “metabolism” through the alimentary system to produce energy that powers man to breathe, to walk, to talk, to work, to move from point “A” to point “B” for normal daily economic and commercial activities, which obviously, also includes other man’s political, official and administrative assignments, and  most essentially on health grounds, sporting activities where energy is hugely exerted and dispensed at the same time; etcetera). This again makes life’s maintenance to strongly root for one of the three basic needs of man (food), as a very essential factor in man’s existence (including every living organism, especially all animals, to essentially and constantly source for food) hence, the importance of “food security” for man that lives in an organised society and runs a planned global economy. The remaining living things or plants, are fed through the process of “photosynthesis”, where the sun supplies the solar energy that powers their growth, flowering, fruiting and existence.

Energy essentially dominates every activity within the society because it drives the economy and prosperity (wealth creation). Energy generation, production and consumption have been the topic in the front burner of today’s global energy business. Without adequate supplies of energy (its scarcity or poverty) there will be an energy crisis within the economy, and that is why energy security is extremely important; especially in a changing world with ever increasing world’s population that keeps exerting more pressure for a continuous increase in energy demand globally. This singular reason plus the effects and impact from its constant utilisation (production and consumption) by man over the past centuries, have created the present global challenge of climate change, called global warming, where the global temperature has exceeded the permissible range that would sustain man’s life on planet earth. This was again, as a result of energy sourced from fossil fuels (coal, crude oil and gas) that are basically hydrocarbon compounds that have excessively generated carbon dioxide (CO2, through human activities, that creates a covering/an insulation to trap more carbons than the quantity that is reflected back from the earth), a greenhouse gas (GHG). This emitted into the atmosphere heats up the globe far above the permissible temperature of the “greenhouse effect”; which naturally sustains life’s activities with the needed warmth against cold, and retains the normal global weather condition.

This distorted natural process observed from the dimension of the environmental impact assessment and its eventual audit, on energy production and consumption (energy demands and supplies, globally); which has adversely devastated the world’s original weather conditions and climate through environmental devastations and distortions observed presently in ongoing extreme weather conditions, has necessitated an emergency situation through energy transition for alternatives and sources like the renewable energies (geothermal, solar, wind, hydro and the likes) that would either replace the traditional dirty sources, or improve on the new and cleaner energy sources that are introduced into the portfolio of the energy mix menu. Managing this menu demands energy solutions that would look at the economic, social and the environmental dimensions, as it would suit the climate actions being taken globally and pioneered by the United Nations because of the imminent threat on the future existence of the planet if mitigation and adaptation measures are not effectively and urgently applied. The energy solutions management therefore, directly focuses on its core economics, the energy affordability (product cost and viability), availability and sustainability (its climate compliance based on carbon emissions reduction) in any of the designated locations within the global village.

In Nigeria presently, cost of energy is very unbearable for the generality of the citizenry, especially when the disposable incomes of these energy consumers are put into consideration (in the light of the hyperinflation within the economy). Currently, the electricity tariff that is being proposed to increase by 40 percent is a threatening pain facing manufacturers in the real sector. The ignoble petrol subsidy issue that presently placed the product far above five hundred naira (N500) has started receiving instant readjustments, as it is being recorded that demand for it has dropped by 28 percent. Looking at a few energy products within the economy – electricity, petrol/gasoline/PMS, diesel/AGO, kerosene/DPK, LPG and CNG – Nigerians have individually and corporately started walking their talk (it is no longer business as usual but, an economic survival of the fittest)! Thanks to technology.

The energy mix portfolio stated above, its direct management by the Nigerian citizens favours the shift to LPG and CNG, in their massive consumptions to power and drive their respective lifestyles, businesses and economic activities as energy options adopted and fixed on vehicles, generators for vehicular movements, power generators to provide electricity for all household electrical appliances. This again favours the vulnerable masses scattered all over the country that commute or operate tricycles, by paying pittance after conversion from gasoline carburetors to both LPG and CNG carburetors; which the energy products sell at attractive/affordable rates of about N850/kg and N130/kg respectively, and which lasts for longer hours when run on vehicles and their generators. This singularly puts the ongoing noise on the subsidy removal to death naturally (let them drink their petrol). It also, most importantly, implements all the carbon neutrality measures in the UN’s climate actions for decarbonization, through maximum energy minimum emissions strategy. Nigerians must survive!