When it comes to energy resources, Nigeria is probably best known for its oil reserves. The Central-African nation possesses an enormous population, approximately 209.6 million as of 2021, making it the most populous country in Africa. As a result of that, along with its oil reserves, the demand for energy internally, and appetite to export to other nations mean the overall demand for energy in Nigeria is notable.

Fossil fuel’s greatest limitation, and Nigeria’s central challenge to solve, is finding alternatives to the finite supply of their precious resource. With a population that is large, and is beginning to show signs of booming, the carbon emissions have soared in recent years, pushing power supplies to their absolute limit. And so, Nigeria has begun to turn to renewable energy as a means of meeting its needs.

To give a sense of scale here, Nigeria needs approximately ten times the current electrical power output to sustainably guarantee a consistent supply for their 200 million-strong population. Almost half of Nigerians have no access to electricity at all, according to comments from Babatunde Fashola, Nigeria’s Power Minister. So, the drive is on to build out a green power foundation across Nigeria. It’s a massive opportunity for the country to propel itself to the forefront of renewable power generating countries. This could also clean up some of their worst offenders on the urban pollutants front. Going green could mean huge benefits, not for Nigeria’s people’s quality of life, but also the sustainability and climate quality of their luscious, forest-covered nation.

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Changing Priorities

Nigeria currently relies on oil and gas production for roughly 35% of its GDP. However, the two account for almost 90% of total revenue from exports, according to a 2018 OPEC study. Over the past couple of years, Nigeria has pumped over $20 billion into one particular area of renewable energy, one that their climate and landscape are perfectly structured to support.

A sunny and verdant country, Nigeria has a lot of solar energy potential. Based on best estimates, it would need the designation of only 5% of Nigeria’s developable land to provide potential capacity for 42,700 MW. Several thriving green businesses have sprung up in Nigeria, including Astrum Energy, Unitronix, and Ecozar Technologies.

Investors are flocking to invest in these businesses, which might hold the key to pushing Nigeria’s green industry to a different level. For those seeking these rapidly-growing companies, CFD indices offer a simple access point to stake a claim on one of the globe’s blossoming renewable industries via the Infinox trading platform. Services such as this also give you the ability to look at the current market confidence in CFD indices like this, allowing you to consider your decision before investing.

The goals Nigeria set have been lofty. An informal target of expanding electricity access to 75% of the populous by 2020 and 90% by 2030 was set back in 2018 – it’s unclear if they have hit that figure, however.

Power Minister Fashola has remained positive and claims Nigeria now aims to produce around a third of its energy with renewable sources by 2030, a remark made in a recent speech in London. This was an ambitious goal for a nation that has been dependent on fossil fuels and generated a lot of its export riches via that same source.