Insight into Renewable Energy and Its Incentivization in Nigeria

Winner of the Presidential Award of Gold Medal and Ordre Nationale du Mérite Civique, Rebecca Gaskin Gain serves as the Independent Non-Executive Director at CBZ Holdings, Zimbabwe. With a history in Nexant Inc, Rebecca Gaskin Gain has helped the US Government with the Power Africa initiative, which aims to help people in Africa access electricity.

Natural gas accounts for 87.5 percent of the on-grid energy Nigeria generates. However, many infrastructural failures and other constraints have forced many Nigerians to rely on diesel and petrol as a source of power. With the negative effects of pollution, the need for renewable energy has gone from important to critical.

To incentivize renewable energy investments, the Nigerian Federal Government exempted certain renewable energy equipment from VAT. Furthermore, the Federal Government of Nigeria’s ‘Solar Power Naija Project’ seeks to provide solar power systems to five million off-grid households. This project is under the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (or NESP), and its execution has been assisted by the CBN, which provides $340 million in loans to projects.