Advocates of green energy have been called upon to prioritise the involvement of communities in the green economy by creating spaces for healthy engagement to resolve concerns around inclusion, participation, decision-making and environmental accountability.
Nigeria is phasing out fossil fuels as part of its commitments to achieve net zero by 2060. Its Energy Transition Plan (ETP), developed as a pathway for realising the target, adopts natural gas as a transition fuel to aid the process of phasing out carbon-polluting fuels like crude oil.
To launch the report, ‘From Exclusion to Inclusion in National Just Transition Plans,’ Spaces for Change (S4C), Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC) and Extractives 360 (E360) gathered experts and other stakeholders in the extractive industry in Ikeja, Lagos, yesterday.
The stakeholders noted that with reality on the ground, countries advocating the energy transition seemed not ready, as their “verbal commitment is different from their body language.”
Executive Director of S4C, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, observed that developed countries seem to be using coercion to mandate the developing countries to comply, adding that any agenda pursued with coercion needs to be questioned.
“A lot of African economies are not ready for the energy transition because their verbal commitment is different from their body language. Nigeria spent billions of naira for oil exploration in the frontier basins of the North.
“With the Russian experience, also, even industrialised nations seem not ready. As they plan to leave Russian gas, they are searching for gas in other countries,” she said.
Nigeria, she added, needs a leader that will think more strategically ahead. For Dr. Loius Ogbeifun of African Initiative for Transparency, Accountability and Responsible Leadership (AfriTAL), the country needs oil to exit oil, since oil is its economic mainstay.
His words: “We need oil to make money to be used in effecting energy transition.” He alleged that the governors’ bid to control the money meant for the host communities left the communities alienated and their concerns disregarded.
Aligning with Ogbeifun, former Commissioner for Energy and Natural Resources, Rivers State, Dr. Peter Medee, identified corruption as an impediment to successful energy transition.
He urged African countries to look inwards at their local technology for solutions to their energy problems. Supporting him, Ibezim-Ohaeri recalled the Eastern Region was refining fuel for cars and helicopters during the Nigerian civil war, wondering why the country could not modify the artisanal refineries in the Niger Delta to fill the energy gap.
She observed that artisanal refining in Port Harcourt was helping to fill the energy gap in the South South and South East.The forum proposed to take action on engagement with trade unions, inclusion of women and people with disabilities, transparency, information as well as prevention, remediation and reparation.
Others include curriculum development, bureaucracy, business and human rights, review of extant laws, decommissioning/abandonment plans and unbundling of ETP.
