Nigerians with harmful refrigerants and ozone-depleting air conditioners will soon heave a sigh of relief as the Federal Government has indicated its willingness to not only phase them out but replace them with ozone-friendly appliances.

Director General/Chief Executive Officer, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Dr Mustapha Abdullahi, stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at a stakeholders workshop for the proposed Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for air conditioners in Nigeria.

The Director General said the workshop aimed to present the national MEPS update as well as solicit the buy-in and support of national stakeholders.

The event was organised by the Energy Commission of Nigeria in partnership with Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Participants were drawn from relevant ministries, departments, and agencies of government; manufacturers, importers, and distributors of air conditioners, multilateral and bilateral organisations, civil society organisations among others.

Last month, Minister of State for Environment, Iziaq Salako, had revealed that the federal government has moved to Stage Three in the plans to phase out ozone-depleting substances in the country.

Declaring the event open, the ECN CEO said the workshop would provide the platform to initiate the national process for the update of the air conditioner MEPS and present the overview of MEPS recommendations produced by the Commission in partnership with UNEP.

Speaking with reporters, Abdullahi said studies have shown that about 60 percent of energy consumed at home happen to be the refrigerators and cooling systems.

While explaining that some Nigerians would have their appliances replaced by the Federal Government free of charge, others would be incentivized.

His words: “We want to save energy, we want to also make Nigerians spend lesser. We have now developed this particular concept in developing what we call Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) that aim to reduce the emissions in the cooling system and also to increase efficiency of our cooling system.

The process, he said, would be gradual. “What we aim to do is not to phase out the entire cooling system we have today. We have development partners, UNEP and UNIDO that have also pledged to give some incentives. We are going to ensure that Standards Organisation of Nigeria set standard according to our MEPS. And also make sure that the cost of what is coming to the market is reduced. So there will be incentives for people to replace what they have.

“Also, we are talking to the Federal Government to assist in replacing some as incentives. So hopefully we will get some replaced free of charge just to keep our environment clean and also to increase efficiency,” he said.

He said the next phase of the programme is taking the awareness to the grassroots and educating people about what ozone-friendly appliances mean.

Engineer Lawal Ismaila, the Group Head of Electronics of SON assured that the organisation would ensure standards so that eco-friendly air conditioners and refrigerants can use less energy and effective cooling in line with global best practices.