The Renewable Energy Master Plan (REMP) articulates Nigeria’s vision and sets out a road map for increasing the role of renewable energy in achieving sustainable development.
The REMP is anchored on the mounting convergence of values, principles and targets as embedded in the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), National Energy Policy, National Policy on Integrated Rural Development, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and international conventions to reduce poverty and reverse global environmental change. Towards the coming decades, Nigeria envisions a peaceful and prosperous nation driven increasingly by renewable energy. The country will exploit renewable energy in quantities and at prices that will promote the achievement of equitable and sustainable growth. In the short term, crude oil will continue to play a dominant role in the economic development of the country.
However, Nigeria’s fossil-led economy is under severe pressure. In decades to come, the sun will slowly but certainly set on crude oil production. Today, large hydropower plants are increasingly threatened by a shrinking River Niger, shaking the security of electricity supplies. Human activities upstream, and possibly climate change constitute critical challenges in our nation’s strive to meet its electricity needs. A silent crisis is also unfolding, as fuel wood remains scarce – increasing the vulnerability of the poor and endangering efforts to reduce poverty.
