Sustain Nigeria

One of the main differences between Nigeria and the western world generally, is the conscious efforts of these western countries to save energy. This is the topic that going to be briefly examined as one of the contributions of this blog to the on-going ‘African Voices on Climate Change’ (AVCC) week that has been organised by connect4climate

It is so easy to see the term ‘climate change’ as something so far away from the common man on the street. Sometimes, the terms used in relation to climate change might make it seem like a problem that can never be understood or solved. But this is not true. This is why when the issue of climate change comes up in a country like Nigeria, people can’t be bothered to listen or do anything about it, because they don’t understand. The truth is that the issue of climate change is something that every single person, old or young, educated or uneducated can be actively involved in solving.

When I went to the United Kingdom for my degree programme, one of the first things I noticed was that everyone was so concerned about how much they pay on their electricity bills, so they rarely switch on any electrical appliances, except it is very necessary for them to use it. Meanwhile, back home in Nigeria at that time, we even sometimes forget to put off the light bulbs when we travel for days. No one cared whether this type of non-chalant attitude was having adverse effects on our environment.

You may ask, what effect is it to the environment that electric appliances are used without limits, whether one actually needs it on or not? I am not going to be giving too many figures or facts but generally, most of the carbon emissions that causes global warming has been found to come from our homes. This is because electric current passes through closed circuit, from a higher potential to a lower potential, thus, producing heat that is released into the atmosphere and causes global warming. Also, when we leave electrical appliances like bulbs on, they will burn out quickly, meaning that we need to throw them away and buy new ones. However, disposing of these appliances can be hazardous because many of them contain heavy metals and toxic substances which will eventually be released into the atmosphere when they burn. This does not mean that are appliances are not meant to burn out, but it just means that the we can control the frequency at which we need to change them.

This is why the introduction of the new electric prepaid meter, few years back, is a good idea for sustainable energy in Nigeria. This meter, unlike the old one, requires customers to buy electric units on the meter, which will eventually be used up, depending on how many electric appliances are used or the frequency of the usage of the electric.

New prepaid electric meter

This meter has ensured that the people using it are now more conscious of how much electric they use; people now make conscious efforts to switch off their light bulbs and television sets when they are not in use. This is a great step forward in reducing the effects of excessive use of energy on the climate. However, many of these people still don’t know about climate change and there is still a great need of raising awareness about this in Nigeria. One of the drawbacks of this new implementation is that more than half of Nigerians have not been given this new meter, in fact, in some rural areas, they don’t even know that this exists. There is a need for the government and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to distribute these meters faster than they are doing now, and also to make it cheaper for even the lowest class of people to be able to afford it.

Overall, this idea is a commendable road to sustainable energy supply for Nigeria, and hopefully, more similar steps will be taken by the government in the nearest future to ensure that the country cooperates with the international community in reducing climate change.