Nigeria’s quest for alternative clean energy through biofuels: an assessment

Agaptus Nwozor,Gbenga Owoeye,Modupe Ake,Oluwaseun Ogundele,Solomon Adedire,Olankunle Olowojolu

doi:10.1088/1755-1315/655/1/012054

Agaptus Nwozor, Gbenga Owoeye + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/655/1/012054

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Abstract

Nigeria is rich in renewable energy resources, including diverse biomasses. However, this enormous endowment in renewable energy resources has not played any significant role in the country’s energy mix. Nigeria is majorly reliant on its non-renewable sources to meet its energy needs. In pursuit of its commitment to transit to alternative clean energy, Nigeria developed the biofuels policy document in 2007. The major aspiration of the policy is to harness the country’s biomass potentials and deploy same to meeting Nigeria’s energy needs. This paper assesses the state of the biofuels sector vis-à-vis the stated aspirations of the Nigerian state as captured in the biofuels policy document. In doing so, this paper uses primary data generated from key informant interviews and augmented with secondary data. It finds a disconnect between the aspirations of the biofuels policy document and the actual state of the biofuels sector. In other words, the biofuels sector has no discernible contribution to Nigeria’s energy mix. The recommendation of this paper is in the realm of rejigging the biofuels policy in order to extract greater government commitment in evolving national capacity for biofuels development.

Highlights

Nigeria’s biofuel policy was birthed by two interrelated factors: the pressure to subscribe to the global efforts to save the world from the negative consequences of fossil fuels in the form of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and the imperative of broadening its energy mix to meet national energy demands
Since 2003 when Nigeria sent its first national communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)[12], it has produced several generic and specific policy documents on energy development aimed at addressing fallouts from climate change
The overall idea of Nigeria’s biofuelpolicy has been to develop an alternative source of energy that would add to the country’s energy mix while at the same time cutback its contribution to the global volume of GHGs

Summary

Introduction

Nigeria’s biofuel policy was birthed by two interrelated factors: the pressure to subscribe to the global efforts to save the world from the negative consequences of fossil fuels in the form of greenhouse gases (GHGs), and the imperative of broadening its energy mix to meet national energy demands. Both of these factors demand that Nigeria choose the path of developing its renewable energy resources. Since 2003 when Nigeria sent its first national communication to the UNFCCC[12], it has produced several generic and specific policy documents on energy development aimed at addressing fallouts from climate change. A catalogue of such policy documents would include the National Energy Policy (NEP) of 2003, which was updated in 2013, the Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP) of 2005 and updated in 2011, the Biofuel Policy and Incentives of 2007, the National Policy on Climate Change and Response Strategy (NPCC-RS) of 2012, National Energy Master Plan of 2014, and the NationalEnergy Policy of 2018among others.The country’s aborted national development plan, Vision 20:2020, recognized climate change as a serious threat to its economic prosperity and future development and included it as part of the key issues to be addressed[13]

Renewable Energy Resources

Findings

Conclusion