Presentation Of The Nigerian Climate Change Innovation Center

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SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA, AT THE NIGERIAN CLIMATE  CHANGE INNOVATION CENTER, AUGUST 3, 2018.

I am very honoured to join our partners and friends here today, to formally present the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center. This is the third of the Innovation Hubs which the Federal Government is involved in partnership with the private sector, as part of the National Social Investments Programme.

With the establishment of this hub, Nigeria officially joins the World Bank’s Climate Business Innovation Network, bringing together foundations, donors, venture funds, and other partners to support local businesses in the development of clean technology and the advancement of climate action.

The task of advancing climate action is a crucial one, especially for us Africa’s most populous nation, and we are told, by 2050 the world’s fourth most populous nation. The pressure for livelihoods and food for this population will put tremendous pressure on the environment and the implications for climate change will be dire indeed. So the creation of an enabling environment for climate-smart businesses to thrive is simply the only way to go.

This is why the launch of the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center (NCIC) could not have come at a better time.

In the last three years, the Federal Government has worked with the private sector to develop and strengthen a culture of innovation in Nigeria. I have personally visited several Startups, Technology Hubs and Innovation spaces around the country, and what I have seen again and again is that phenomenon of the incredible innovativeness, creativity and drive of the Nigerian, constantly developing and deploying solutions in many sectors: agriculture, health, transport, security, climate action, and many more, and all of these are usually locally relevant technologies.

Not too long ago, I met Chukwunonso Osakwe, one of those Nigerians who is doing incredible things (especially in Climate Change Innovation), during one of our MSME Clinics in Abuja. At this particular MSMEs Clinics, Osakwe was able to show us what is going on especially in the area of building electric-powered tricycles to replace the estimated 5 million petrol-powered Keke NAPEP tricycles in the country.

This initiative by Osakwe and his team will not only benefit the operators by offering lower-cost vehicles, but it will also have a significant impact on Nigeria’s consumption of fossil fuels, and by extension, our carbon emissions.

He and his team have already received some funding through our World Bank GEM Start-Up support project, and I am certain that with the launch of the Nigeria Climate Innovation Center, more MSMEs like this will receive greater attention and support.

But, perhaps this is an occasion to challenge the innovation centre to expand the scope and depth of some of the existing game-changing innovations. One of the key sectors where there is potential for high impact especially for green technologies is the off-grid solar sector. Off-grid solar technologies such as mini-grids, decentralised micro-grids, and stand-alone solar systems can rapidly and efficiently provide much-needed energy to the millions of Nigerians currently lacking access to electricity and of course the jobs that will be created.

In January 2017, I launched a private-sector-led Solar Home Systems project in Wuna Village just outside the FCT, aimed at reducing the number of Nigerians relying on fossil fuels and felled trees to provide power to their homes, markets, and communities generally.

The project has provided more than 180,000 Nigerians with access to clean and sustainable energy and has highlighted the enormous market available, as well as the urgent need for more efficient and climate-friendly modes of electrification. Our continuing support to the Solar Home Systems project will enable the electrification of one million households over the next two years, using this innovative technology.

But we can do more. Similarly, we have in the past six months, with our Energizing Economies Initiative, another private-sector-driven effort, been providing off-grid power to markets and economic clusters across the country. The Sabon-Gari Market in Kano state, which is home to 13,000 shops, is currently being powered through high-capacity stand-alone solar systems.

The Energizing Economies project is also currently being implemented in Ariaria Market in Aba, Sura Market in Lagos, and other markets in Oyo, Edo and Ondo states; all utilising innovative decentralised energy solutions to provide sustainable energy to customers, replacing thousands of generators in the process. Innovation can and must make solar technology even cheaper. We must be able to develop our own components, our panels, our own batteries. We must be able to domesticate the technology to make solar energy cheaper.

In the Niger Delta, our Clean-up programme is on course, aiming to reverse the destructive impact of decades of unchecked oil pollution on farmlands, bodies of water, and communities. It will restore livelihoods and aim to restore a wetland ecosystem that is the largest in Africa and one of the largest in the world. But the clean-up is expensive, very expensive. The technology and expertise are mostly imported. This innovation Centre must seek to commodify the technology and expertise we require to deal with this problem.

It is important for us as a nation; it is important for Africa that we can make it cheaper to clean up all of these areas that have been devastated by environmental pollution, especially oil pollution, then we would have solved a major ecological problem.

Let me add to your list of burdens: the Federal Government is investing considerably in Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), which will help overcome challenges and risks brought about by the use of kerosene and firewood in our households. Can the (NCIC) team come up with innovation in smart cooking equipment that can utilise LPG in the most efficient manner? And I think that is entirely possible. I know that you have all of the creativity and talent that is required to solve this and so many other problems.

The challenge the world faces and that we face as a continent and as a nation is also developing and adopting the right incentives and policies to eliminate carbon emissions. But even that search will involve spending money. And as we go along, we must raise money to support commercial projects that focus on carbon saving and/or elimination.

In 2017, Nigeria, having ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change earlier, issued a five-year Green bond; the first Sovereign issuance by an African country. The bond will be used to finance projects that have a positive impact on the environment and provide solutions to climate change. NCIC provides an excellent platform for attracting or unlocking venture financing and private equity funds for climate-smart businesses and Nigerians providing climate-smart solutions, as well as encourage the development, deployment and transfer of locally relevant climate technologies.

Let me commend again the Nigerian Climate Change Innovation Centre, our host, the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan Atlantic University, & the World Bank on this historic contribution to solving what is clearly the most crucial challenge of our times-climate change. I pray just as Mr Nwankwo said that you will work quickly and walk far.

Thank you for your attention