Adeleke Mamora, the minister of science, technology, and innovation, has outlined the reasons why Nigeria, despite its blessings, is still an underdeveloped nation.
The minister claimed that despite having abundant resources, Nigeria is underdeveloped because it lacks the ability to turn potentials into reality. The minister was speaking at a workshop aimed at accelerating small hydropower investments in Nigeria.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization, in cooperation with the Nigerian Energy Commission, organized the event that took place on Tuesday in Abuja.
If deliberate choices are not made to ensure that our potential is used to make realities for our benefit, the cliché of praising the abundance of natural resources will be meaningless, Adeleke stated.
“In Nigeria, we always talk about our potential, about what we can do, and about so many renewable energy sources,” he said. However, potential won’t change until we make them a reality. And I inquire as to the issue. Why are we so fortunate yet so underprivileged?
It’s not a question I can answer; instead, I’d like everyone to consider it and make a deliberate choice to make sure that we realize our potential for our own good.
“A country is only as developed as its research and development initiatives, so if we want to get where we want to, we must also develop our research and development efforts. These are important elements that govern how our nation develops.
Adeleke outlined his ideas as he criticised the difficulty of securing investments in renewable energy sources despite the nation’s 278 potential hydropower sites’ combined capacity of 24,020 megawatts.
He claims that less than 3% of this capacity has been utilized to increase access to electricity.
He expressed hope, though, that Nigeria’s prosperity would be expanded through collaboration and communication as a result of the transformation of the energy sector.
He further said, “To effectively increase investment in renewables, especially small hydropower in Nigeria, collaboration between policymakers, academia, public financiers, and private sector actors is a necessity,”.
In the meantime, Maryam Katagum, the minister of state for trade and investment, pledged that the government would speed up hydropower investment in the energy sector.
According to her, the goal of the workshop is to boost hydropower investments in Nigeria and raise awareness of the need to seize the current opportunities while utilizing and funding the vast, sparse hydropower potential sites spread throughout the nation.
The technical committee’s formal launch, tasked with coming up with workable solutions and regulations to boost investments in renewable energy, was the event’s high point.
