The Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, is working to ensure the
provision of solar power to communities of the Niger Delta region that are
not covered by the national grid.
The NDDC Managing Director, Mr. Nsima Ekere, said this when the leader of
the Sustainable Energy Practitioners of Nigeria, SEPAN, Federal Ministry of
Environment and Asteven Group, Dr. Magnus Onuoha, paid him a courtesy call
at the NDDC headquarters in Port Hacourt.
Mr. Ekere was presented with the Green Global Champion Award which the
Agency won at the recently concluded global Climate Conference, at
Katowice Poland for the contributions of the NDDC to the development of the
region.
The NDDC boss said the Commission had over the years been involved in a lot
of projects in the Green Energy sector. He said: “We believe that one of
the ways of closing the gap between electricity distributions in the
country is to encourage green energy initiatives in a captive supply
market.”
Ekere stated that the NDDC was committed to the project and will deepen its
collaboration with private sectors and organizations like Green Global
Economy Initiative in providing green power to rural communities in Nigeria
and the Niger Delta region in particular.
In his remarks Dr. Onuoha thanked the NDDC for ensuring that 20 per cent
unconditional emissions reduction as committed to by the administration of
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 was realized. He also lauded the NDDC
for keying into the implementation of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined
Contribution under the Paris Agreement of 2015, noting that the NDDC
deserved commendation for being in the Vanguard of the promotion of low
carbon resources efficient Nigerian green economy.
He noted with joy the agency’s commitment to distribute 90,000 small solar
lanterns to tertiary institutions in the nine states of the region at
10,000 per state, with effect from January 2019.
Onuoha explained that the distribution was expected to generate 3.5 million
metric tons of carbon and would be reported by the Department of Climate
Change Federal Ministry of Environment as part of Nigeria’s Nationally
Determined Contribution efforts.
*Ibitoye Abosede, Ph.D*
Director, Corporate Affairs
December 19, 2018.