Professor of Chemical Engineering and recipient of the 2018 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM) award, Adesoji Adesina, has warned that it may take 2,000 years for Nigeria to catch up with the developed world if the government does not embrace renewable energy.

Adesina said this while delivering the 2019 First Award Winners’ Lecture of the Nigerian National Merit Award (NNMA) – the body that identifies candidates for the NNOM, (Nigeria’s highest recognition for academic achievements and innovations) at the University of Lagos on Tuesday titled: “Making the Case for Agro-Based Energy Development: A National Priority for Sustainable Economy”.

“It will take us nearly 2,000 years to get to where developed countries are; if we don’t change anything; if we just told our hands it will take us an unacceptably long time to get to where we want to be.

“So the present renewable policy we have must change,” he said.

The Professor who teaches at the School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia, said there was a correlation between Human Development Index (HDI) and energy production and consumption.

He said countries that were at the same level with Nigeria some decades ago had achieved much more because they abandoned fossil fuels for renewable energy.

He gave example of Norway an oil producing country which depends on renewable energy to meet its electricity demands.

To remedy the situation the don called for a departure from fossil fuels and investments in biomass refineries that would meet energy needs without destroying the environment.

He said biomass resources in Nigeria was rich and varied could support sustainable development.

“The circular nature of agricultural resources makes it a veritable framework for sustainable energy development because of cyclic flow of material and energy,” he said. (The Nation)

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