Vitality and commerce specialists have expressed combined reactions to the Federal Authorities’s proposed ban on the importation of photo voltaic panels into Nigeria, elevating issues about its potential influence on the nation’s renewable vitality drive, job creation, and native manufacturing capabilities.
The proposed coverage shift, reportedly aimed toward boosting native manufacturing and decreasing dependence on foreign-made photo voltaic elements, is a part of a broader push by the President Bola Tinubu administration to advertise industrialisation, preserve overseas alternate, and help home enterprises in keeping with the renewed hope agenda.
The Minister of Science and Technology, Uche Nnaji, had at a current occasion in Abuja introduced plans by the federal authorities to cease the importation of photo voltaic panels as a part of efforts to spice up native manufacturing and drive Nigeria’s clear vitality transition.
He stated the transfer aligns with Presidential Government Order No. 5, which seeks to advertise native content material in science, engineering, and expertise.
Nonetheless, stakeholders warn that an outright ban, if carried out unexpectedly with out ample native capability in place, might disrupt ongoing photo voltaic vitality initiatives, drive up set up prices, and decelerate Nigeria’s transition to wash vitality.
Dr. Yusuf Adedayo, a renewable vitality specialist on the University of Lagos, advised Nairametrics that whereas encouraging native manufacturing is a noble aim, banning imports at this stage may very well be untimely.
“We should first assess if Nigerian producers have the capability to provide high-quality photo voltaic panels at scale. If we impose a ban with out a sturdy native provide chain, we threat stalling renewable vitality entry in rural and underserved areas,” he stated.
Adedayo added that the majority native producers nonetheless depend on imported elements for meeting, and any disruption within the international provide chain might negatively influence manufacturing timelines.
“It is very important make clear that Government Order 5 is a procurement coverage which directs Ministries, Departments and Businesses (MDAs) to provide choice to Nigerian service suppliers of their procurement course of for items and providers.
“It’s clearly totally different from a commerce coverage measure which has wider {economic} implications and requires a extra rigorous research earlier than coverage pronouncements are made,” he stated in his response to the announcement despatched to Nairametrics.
“A sudden ban might spike the price of photo voltaic installations by up drastically. For a rustic the place over 85 million persons are nonetheless with out electrical energy, we are able to’t afford to make photo voltaic vitality costlier or much less accessible,” she warned.
Musa urged the Federal Authorities to focus as an alternative on constructing a complete ecosystem that helps native producers via tax reliefs, entry to finance, infrastructure, and partnerships with worldwide photo voltaic expertise firms.
Whereas the federal government has not launched a proper coverage doc outlining the proposed ban, insiders on the Ministry of Business, Commerce, and Funding affirm that consultations are ongoing.
A senior official on the Ministry, who spoke anonymously, advised Nairametrics that the proposed ban remains to be “on the coverage design stage” and can possible include exemptions for essential sectors and challenge builders who meet particular localization benchmarks.
“We’re not simply slamming a ban. We’re creating a roadmap to extend native content material in photo voltaic vitality deployment. However sure, we wish to transfer away from extreme import dependence,” the official stated.
One other official stated whereas it was the obligation of the Ministry to draft the coverage doc, it was as much as the Federal Government Council (FEC) to take the ultimate determination on the matter. In response to him, that might be “a matter whether or not the President desires that to undergo.”
