The most striking example is surely the southern half of Lake Chad, which sits inside Nigerian territory, and has all but completely dried up. The lake occupied an area of over 25,000 square kilometres in 1983, but currently spans a measly 1,300 square kilometres.
Hotter and drier weather is expected to exacerbate floods, droughts, and heat waves, as well as impede agricultural productivity, particularly rain-fed agriculture, on which many Nigerians rely for a living. Indeed, agriculture represents around 23 percent of the country’s GDP.
A key challenge has been matching the pace of Nigeria’s technological innovation to its emissions. According to the International Energy Association, the country emitted 104.27 metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2018. This figure represents an increase of 271.6% from 1990 levels.
One way in which innovation can be directed towards achieving environmental sustainability for Nigeria is through a robust intellectual property system. By providing protection and policy measures, strong IP systems can fuel green technologies to help build a healthier society.
In 2009, the United States and the United Kingdom launched an eco-patent commons to encourage the use of existing green technologies, licence such technology for free, and speed up the issuance of patents for eco-innovations in these countries. Such an IP system could enable Nigeria to fully harness the talent hitherto hindered by restrictive policy and public funding.
Another great hurdle in deploying innovative sustainable solutions in Nigeria is a lack of public funding. Nevertheless, attempts at nurturing local innovation have been made by the Nigerian Government. Established in 2018 by the World Bank with key support from the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Office of the Vice President, the Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre (NCIC) has supported efforts to climate change challenges in Nigeria through venture development and capacity-building assistance, as well as market, investment, and funding access to viable green businesses.
OneWattSolar, a company which in its startup stage received a $10,000 grant from the NCIC, makes clean energy available to low-income households, institutions, and businesses by installing and operating solar rooftop systems at no upfront cost. Since the grant was awarded, the project has been able to generate 4018MWh of electricity from renewable sources, in addition to offsetting 6696 tons of CO2.
Though higher investment does not necessarily guarantee quality, research suggests there is a strong correlation between a country’s degree of research excellence and the amount of public funding it devotes to research and development.
Certainly, there is no shortage of creative and pioneering solutions being devised in Nigeria. Lumos Global, for example, is an off-grid solar energy company, which provides reliable electricity to households across the country thanks to its affordable and convenient power solution.
In 2020, Lumos fitted more than 100,000 solar home systems around Nigeria. A grant of USD 35 million from the Federal Government will support them in to lighting up over a million households by 2025.
It’s not difficult to imagine the sheer number of innovative startups that could roll out across Nigeria, backed by significant talent and ambition.
However, Nigeria is facing a major threat to its capacity to devote public funding to such projects.
This threat comes in the form of a high-profile and potentially ruinous dispute, in which the Federal Government of Nigeria is contesting a USD 11 billion debt owed to the shell company Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), backed by a hedge fund called VR Capital which is registered in offshore tax havens.
USD 11 billion could pay for Nigeria’s national health budget more than ten times over, or fund over 300 startups, equally as ambitious and efficient as Lumos Global.
The dispute is the result of a 2010 contract between the Nigerian Government and P&ID, an offshore shell company with no assets or employees. P&ID committed to install a gas processing plant, which never materialised. It was later discovered that P&ID had no experience in the processing of natural gas.
Two years later, P&ID started arbitration proceedings against the Nigerian Government for contract breach. The arbitration, which was conducted behind closed doors in London, ruled in P&ID’s favour and mandated that the Nigerian Government pay P&ID USD 6.6 billion in addition to around USD 1 million every day in interest. The total award currently amounts to approximately USD 11 billion.
Since then, the Nigerian Government has presented a strong body of evidence that bribery and fraud were used to secure the deal.
If the country is forced to repay this debt, it would not only severely impact its delivery of essential healthcare to its people, but also its ability to fund innovative projects to combat its rampant environmental crises.
Fortunately, it appears increasingly likely that Nigeria will be successful in its bid for justice. According to a London Commercial Court decision, there is substantial preliminary evidence that the initial commercial agreement between Nigeria and P&ID involved massive fraud. The fraud trial will be heard before the London High Court in January 2023.
There is an immense amount of talent in Nigeria, with ambitious projects just waiting to be put in motion to combat the pressing consequences of climate change. These will inevitably require significant backing, notably in the form of public funding from the federal government. We must first ensure that Nigeria does not face potential ruin as the result of an alleged scam agreement.
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#FeatureByJordan Finkle
