It goes without saying that the Governor of Anambra State, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR thinks sustainability in his administration of the state. Sustainability maximizes today’s potentials without destroying the prospects of future generations. Sustainability that can only be achieved through “disruptive thinking”. From the word go of his administration, the Governor insisted that there must be new ways of doing things. New ways that are more efficient, cost effective, environmentally sustainable and that marshals the state into her future.
This why to an observant person, the green revolution of the Anambra state government did not just start on March 31, 2023 when the Governor flagged off the “Clean, Green, Sustainable Anambra state” initiative at Ochanja Market, Onitsha. It started way beyond then with the power sector in the state where the Governor piloted and is piloting the power shift to a green solution that meets international best practices in the drive to reduce climate change. Where as the March 31 exercise was the beginning of building the consciousness of the citizenry to his green revolution initiatives, the Governor had begun, way before then, to implement policies in that regard immediately he mounted the saddle of leadership in the state.
Notable of this policy implementation is the observable transformation from fossil fuel powered street light project in Anambra State to a more greener solar powered system. Before the coming of the Soludo administration, the state government sunk in, as it were, over six hundred million naira monthly in the procurement of diesel and maintenance of the different generators that powered the street light project that were scattered across the state.
What this meant was that at the time when the pump price of diesel was at less than N250 per litre, the state spent over N7.2 billion annually only on streetlights. Comparatively, with the over 400% increase in the cost of diesel at the moment, the state would have been spending roughly over N28.8 billion annually on street lights alone. As a disruptive thinker, the Governor went to work not only to find a green solution to unburden the state of the humongous amount, but to find a better alternative that is cost effective, more efficient and environmentally sustainable.
The answer lied in the solar power sector and without wasting time, the Governor initiated a switch-over without the usual fanfare that greets such policy innovations in Nigeria’s governance system. Today, the Government, in the first phase of the switch-over has successfully transited over 6, 380 solar energy lamps already. By the second phase, it is expected that over 11, 000 lamps would have been replaced. This will account for over 70% of the state in the effort to replace the existing lamps. Apart from where there are replacements of the exiting lamps, new solar lamps are being installed as more roads are being constructed. For instance in Okpoko, Ogbaru Local Government Area, the Government has installed over 563 new solar lamps while new lamps have been installed in all the major dump sites in Nkwelle Ezunaka, Onitsha-Owerri road and Nnewi. The thinking is that this will ensure that evacuation of wastes can now be done round the clock and thus, increases the success rate of the “Clean, Green and Sustainable Anambra” initiative. Also, the Anambra State House of Assembly complex, the INEC Headquarters and State Judiciary Headquarters are now fully installed with solar lamps.
The benefits of this transition are enormous as they are disruptive. First, the State has now saved over N29 billion naira it would have been spending every year in the maintenance of diesel powered generators that were scattered across the state and the possible extra cost that will be spent in procurement of new ones. It has also increased efficiency as it cut outs the human factor involved in the switch-on and switch off of the street lights which are now automated with the solar powered lamps- the streetlights now come on as the sun sets. With the shift, the state has also drastically reduced the quantity of green house emissions that it contributes to the ozone layer. The air is now safer for Ndi Anambra. In fact, Governor Chukwuma Soludo “ji ofu okwute tụgbuo ọtụtụ nnụnụ.”
The GREENING of the power sector in Anambra State is sustainable and disruptive. It is clean and it is green.
The future and the Solution is here.
Written by ABS EDITORIAL
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