The Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, has said Nigeria should prioritize local production of solar power products in the country.
Naijaonpoint reports that Alake said it was time for Nigeria to pursue policy that would stop imports of solar power products.
The Minister stated this at the annual Mining Indaba holding in Cape Town, South Africa.
On Wednesday, his Media Adviser, Kehinde Bamigbetan, released a statement stating that the Minister at the event also secured study facility funding from the Global Council for Critical Minerals for critical minerals in the country.
According to the statement, the Global Council for Critical Minerals is a specialized organ of the Sustainable Energy for All, a United Nations agency set up to implement the Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The study, to be carried out by UC Davis and supported by Core International, would examine the country’s critical minerals resources and reserves and establish international best practices for value development to ensure that it contributes to value addition and grows the economy.
One of the expected benefits is the development of an industrial sector for the local production of solar power and foreign exchange savings from reducing imports of solar power products.
After exchanging views with the Principal Specialist, Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, Mr. Divyam Nagpal, Alake thanked the UN agency for the gesture, saying it would enrich the development of Nigeria’s solar power policy.
“Since we have the materials for the production of solar power, we should vigorously pursue the policy of stopping the importation of solar power products and localize the production in Nigeria. We have a large market. Already, a lot of the products in Nigeria service the West African sub-region. So whatever material we are producing or manufacturing has a ready West African market,” he said.
He highlighted steps taken by the administration of President Bola Tinubu in the mining sector, assuring the UN agency that the investment climate is positive and friendly.
“We are putting in place a new security architecture that will ensure, not just the safety of the investor but also the protection of the mining environment. We also had to re-draw the Community Development Agreement to ensure that the local populace benefits maximally from these developments, so that at the end of the day, it is a win-win for the investor, the populace and the State,” he stated.
Alake noted that if investors have an unfettered environment to operate, their profit margin would increase, and they would pay their royalties and discharge their obligations to the government.
Briefing the Minister earlier, Mr. Nagpal said the critical minerals’ roadmap of Nigeria would support the country’s policy formulation process and aid the development of the critical minerals sub-sector.
He invited the Minister to this year’s Sustainable Energy for All Programme in Barbados with the theme, Sustainable Energy for Equity, Security and Prosperity.