In celebration of Earth Day 2025, Earthplus Sustainability Network hosted an X Space meeting on April 19, 2025, to address the persistent issue of energy accessibility in Nigeria’s underdeveloped communities. The virtual conversation featured insightful discussions with renowned renewable energy experts from Nigeria and the diaspora, including:

• Ifeoma Malo
• Glory Oguebu
• Victory Osarumwense
• Chidalu Onyenso
• Ayobami Adedinni

The session was moderated by Deborah Fadeyi, who posed key questions to the panelists centered on bridging Nigeria’s renewable energy gap.

Recap: https://x.com/i/spaces/1RDxlzpNNYRGL
https://x.com/i/spaces/1mnxegkRmrZGX

Reflecting on the theme of the meeting sparked an important question: Are there communities undeserving of renewable energy? The answer is a resounding NO. Every community in Nigeria deserves access to sustainable, reliable, and renewable power. However, various systemic challenges have rendered many areas “underserved.”

WHY ARE THESE COMMUNITIES CALLED “UNDERSERVED”?

1. Lack of Enlightenment
   Many rural communities are not adequately educated on how to use or maintain renewable energy systems. Glory Oguebu shared an example of a clinic in her hometown with solar panels on its roof that still lacked power due to poor management and user awareness. The system had become non-functional.
2. Lack of Trust
   Substandard installations have bred deep distrust. Many products fail shortly after installation due to low-quality materials provided by unethical vendors. For example, solar-powered streetlights in these areas often stop working within a short period, leading residents to believe they do not deserve or cannot benefit from renewable energy solutions.
3. Exploitation
   These underserved communities are frequently exploited. Vendors use them as dumping grounds for substandard solar panels and other renewable energy components. The absence of regulation and oversight allows unscrupulous businesses to take advantage of residents’ limited knowledge.
4. Availability of Alternatives
   Despite being noisy and fuel-dependent, generators are widely used and preferred for their perceived reliability and multipurpose functionality, qualities many entry-level solar systems currently lack.
5. Cost Barriers
   The cost of installing solar panels, inverters, and batteries is prohibitively high for most residents of rural communities. This financial barrier further widens the energy access gap.

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

Despite these challenges, the dialogue was filled with actionable solutions aimed at empowering communities and transforming Nigeria’s energy future. Highlights included:

1. Community Enlightenment
   Education is key. Rural communities need targeted orientation programs on how to properly use, manage, and maintain solar energy systems. Understanding system capacity, limits, and safety practices can significantly boost trust and lifespan.
2. Direct Funding Access Through Banks
   Panelists proposed allocating renewable energy funds through commercial banks. This would enable individuals to access loans or grants with transparency, structure, and better implementation.
3. Local Production of Solar Technology
   Nigeria has the natural resources to support domestic production of solar systems. According to Glory Oguebu, over 60% of the materials needed for local manufacturing are readily available. While cables may still require importation, local production can reduce dependence on imports and improve quality control.
4. Policy Consistency and Regulation
   The government must enforce consistent policies to regulate the renewable energy industry. A ban on the importation of substandard solar panels would stimulate local production. Smuggling of low-quality components should attract stiff penalties to deter unethical practices.

Our Reflections: Energy Access is More Than Infrastructure—It’s Justice

Beyond the vibrant conversation during the Earth Day 2025 X Space, we believe it is important to step back and reflect on the deeper meaning of what was discussed. The issue of renewable energy access in Nigeria’s underserved communities is not merely a technical or logistical challenge, it is fundamentally a justice issue.

Here are some of our thoughts:

1. Energy is a Human Right
Access to electricity is essential for education, health, business, and dignity. Without it, communities remain locked in cycles of poverty. Every citizen, regardless of where they live, deserves the opportunity to thrive and power is foundational to that possibility.

2. What We’re Facing is Energy Injustice
Many communities aren’t just “underserved”, they’ve been systematically excluded from development priorities. This exclusion isn’t random; it’s the result of policy gaps, economic neglect, and broken infrastructure planning.

3. Innovation Must Be Local
Sustainable energy solutions for Nigeria must reflect the realities of Nigerian communities. We must move from importing one-size-fits-all systems to co-creating context-specific, culturally aware, and resilient technologies with and for local people.

4. Women are Essential to the Energy Transition
Women are at the heart of energy use in rural areas and must be empowered as adopters, educators, and entrepreneurs in the clean energy value chain. Gender-responsive energy strategies are not optional, they’re essential.

5. Policy Must Be Backed by Political Will and Accountability
Without enforcement, even the best policies remain words on paper. Strong regulation, quality assurance, and citizen monitoring are needed to ensure long-term impact not just quick wins.

6. Energy Access Is National Security
Communities in the dark are vulnerable economically and socially. Powering underserved areas is a path to peace, inclusion, and national stability.

7. The Path Forward Requires All of Us
Government cannot do it alone. Private sector innovators, civil society, local leaders, diaspora actors, and development partners must work together in true collaboration, not parallel efforts.

At Enconverge, we believe that bridging Nigeria’s energy divide is not just about watts and wires, it’s about dignity, equity, and opportunity. If we are to truly celebrate Earth Day and honor the legacy of sustainable progress, we must ask ourselves: Are we building systems that serve everyone or only a few?

This moment calls for courage, clarity, and collective action. No community should be in the dark not figuratively, and not literally.