The Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre will begin with providing support for entrepreneurs who can provide innovative solutions for off-grid solar sector.
Member of the advisory board of the centre, Mr Olawale Anifowose, stated this in a chat with Nigerian Tribune, recently.
He said, “The Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre is a centre that is harnessing climate innovation to mitigate a number of climate challenges we are facing in this part of the world.
“There are three thematic areas the centre will be focused on: renewable energy power solutions, sustainable agriculture, and waste management. The idea is to focus on off-grid solar which is one of the primary areas.”
He said that if the centre is able “to focus on supporting those entrepreneurs and people that have innovations for off-grid solar, we will be able to give access (to electricity) to a lot of Nigerians.”
“The Rural Electrification Agency (REA) is focusing on this area as well, and I know that with support from the World Bank, this will provide (electricity) access to millions of Nigerians.”
It will be recalled that the Nigeria CIC was inaugurated recently by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday, August 3.
Anifowose said, “It is clear that this is a laudable step from the government to be able to support this kind of centre that will be harnessing innovations that concerns climate.”
Speaking on the other areas of focus for the centre, he said that waste-to-wealth initiatives were part of what the centre will look into. “If you look at Lagos that generates up to 30 metric tonnes of waste, all that waste can be converted to energy and other products that will drive a number of things. A number of countries successfully take their waste and convert it to energy. These are some of the things the centre will also look into.”
The Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre is a public-private partnership involving the Federal Government, the World Bank Group and the Pan-Atlantic University.
According to information on the centre’s website, the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) aims to support Nigerian entrepreneurs and SMEs in developing profitable and context-specific solutions to climate change, particularly the deployment of solar off-grid technologies.
But, particularly in this first year, the NCIC will be focused on supporting innovative businesses in the Off-Grid Solar sector.
The NCIC is structured as an independent, locally owned and privately-run organisation and is currently housed at the Ajah campus of the Enterprise Development Centre of the Pan-Atlantic University.
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