NIEEE inducts new conferees, advocates energy mix to deepen economic growth

The Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (NIEEE), has said that the ongoing ‘Rebranding NIEEE’ project has made the association’s activities more prominent as evident in the level of publicity it is getting from both the print and electronic media in the country.

This was the view of Kings Adeyemi, the National chairman and the Chairman in Council of NIEEE in a speech he delivered at the 10th Fellowship Conferment Ceremony of the Institute, held in Abuja, late last week. The event was done virtually and through physical participation.

Adeyemi stated that it was worth mentioning that NIEEE houses all the specialities of Electrical Engineering such as Power, ICT, Artificial Intelligence, etc.

He added that in order to deliver on its mandates effectively, the NIEEE is constitutionally structured into three broad sub-divisions of Electrical Engineering-Power Engineering and Instrumentation and Control Sections.

“The Fellowship status of the institute is the highest level of membership of the institute having demonstrated wealth of experience, commitment and contribution to the advancement of electrical engineering practice in Nigeria and beyond.

According to Adeyemi, the objective of the Fellowship Conferment is to honour achievements and inspire future innovations.

Professor Christopher O. Ahiakwo, who was the guest speaker at the conferment ceremony, said that harnessing Nigeria’s energy resources, which comprise coal, gas, oil, large hydro, solar, wind, small hydro and biomass with proper energy mix will improve electric power accessibility, create job opportunities, accelerate economic development and reduce over dependent on the importation of goods and services.

The university don stressed that Nigeria has great potential in various energy resources, recommended that Nigeria incorporates coal and renewables like solar, wind, small hydro and bio-mass to the power generation mix of the nation.

Ahiakwo, who is of the Department of Engineering, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said with the potential in hydro, solar, wind or biomass should be encouraged to develop them, while states with oil and gas should also be encouraged to develop small thermal plants and inject them into the national grid.

According to him, building approvals in urban areas should include the installation of solar panels. He proposed energy mix of 20 per cent renewable (solar, wind, biomass and small hydro) and 80 per cent non-renewables (mainly fossil and large hydro-power) to achieve electricity accessibility from 75 per cent to 90 per cent by 2030.

Ahiakwo said the economic growth of a nation depends on the country’s access to adequate supply and consumption of energy, stressing that Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural resources that constitute primary sources of energy.

He said energy availability and consumption increases gross domestic product (GDP) of a nation, adding that it increases industrial, commercial and social activities of a nation, while, non-availability of it or restricted access reduces economic growth.

“This eventually leads to lack of infrastructural development/decay. Most poor countries are either having restricted access to energy or lack of proper management of their energy resources,” he added.

According to him, the Nigerian electric power supply system started from government policy and choice of the energy mix. He said the nation has coal and hydropower sources in abundance but the country chose to concentrate on oil and gas with hydro as her only energy mix, abandoning coal and small hydro plants.

“This wrong choice of energy mix has kept the country behind her contemporaries like Malaysia, China and India,” he stated.