Fashola Advocates for Sustainable Energy in Nigeria

  Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Governor, Lagos State has stated that if Nigeria’s current population of 160 million and the next generation of Nigerians are to have access to affordable energy options, the country must choose a path that will lead to a future of sustainable energy. In a recent speech delivered at the just-concluded 38th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) held in Lagos, Fashola said the global energy map was dramatically changing. According to him, these changes would recast expectations about the role of relevant countries, regions and fuels in the global energy system over the coming decades. Fashola explained that Nigeria had relied on oil and gas for decades not just for revenue but for its local needs and has therefore taken the availability of oil and gas for granted, without taking into consideration its inevitable depletion. “North America is at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and gas production that will affect all regions of the world, yet the potential also exists for a similarly transformative shift in global energy efficiency,” he said. The governor contested that there is a great opportunity for African oil and gas –producing countries to adapt new sustainable economic strategies to keep up with global economic changes. He said that this has become imperative as the United States shale gas and the shale oil revolution has knocked these countries out of reckoning in regards to export of oil to the United States. He summoned African countries to examine opportunities and strategies to improve integration and the use of its oil and gas resources, if they have intentions of maximising the benefits of energy efficiency on the continent. “Governments need to find solutions to energy issues by asking questions on how they can drive increases in energy efficiency through regulations and federal climate plans,” Fashola expressed. “As a continent, we should seek to implement a framework policy that will harness our energy resources, as well as the resourcefulness of our entrepreneurs, and our industrial and financial sectors. This will guide the deployment of energy projects by both the public and private sector. Making the most of the oil and gas resources within the region requires improved security of supply, infrastructure, human and production capital resources,” he explained. Fashola said globalisation was bringing the world closer together, adding that there is no avoiding the fact countries live in an increasingly interdependent world. He noted that energy security is a two-way street, where both producers and consumers must have a sense of security of demand and supply. “We have a collective duty to guarantee energy security that is supported by integrated energy resource planning,” he added.