The Regional Director of Africa Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Dr. Chinedu Ogwus, urged Nigeria to adopt rapid science-driven reforms to its energy sector. He warned that decades of mismanagement are threatening national growth and industrial competitiveness.
Speaking in Abuja at the inauguration of the Pioneer Fellowship and Honours Cohort of the Global Chartered Institute of Energy Management (GCIEM), Canada, Dr. Ogwus delivered a thought-provoking presentation on the theme “Challenges of the Energy Sector in Nigeria’s Economy.” The event brought together policymakers, regulators, energy specialists, and innovators.
Dr. Ogwus also drew attention to the ironies of Nigeria’s huge endowments of oil and gas and renewable energy sources, with maddening inability to supply electricity to more than 70 million citizens regularly. He noticed that industries have to rely on very expensive generators to increase their production costs and make them less competitive globally.
With an estimated 209 trillion cubic feet of gas and over 13,000 MW of installed electricity capacity, just a fraction reaches consumers reliably. He termed this gap “a structural embarrassment that undermines national competitiveness,” saying inefficiencies, vandalism, and aging infrastructure siphon more than $28 billion annually from the economy.
He said the root of this crisis is not just technical setbacks but deep governance failures, ranging from deteriorating refineries and pipeline vandalism down to erratic regulation. These challenges, he said, have weakened investor confidence and slowed progress toward sustainable energy development. Dr. Ogwus emphasized that domestic gas has to anchor the energy transformation of the country. He spoke of extending the initiative of the Decade of Gas into increased gas-to-power electricity generation, reducing emissions, and enhancing industrial productivity. He also stressed the importance of drones, satellite surveillance, and community involvement in minimizing pipeline vandalism and oil theft.
