 You're welcome back. It's still the breakfast on plus TV Africa and we are now going to talk about something really important and now that subsidy has been removed on premium motor spirit, PMS or petrol as they call it. There is this drizzle for right pricing of electricity also and this may have triggered a major shift in the pattern of energy consumption with about 75% of households now exploring solar as the alternative sources of energy. There was a survey, a multi-dimensional survey conducted to assess Nigerians response to almost 200% increase in the pump price of PMS and it revealed that the majority of households are planning to embrace solar energy even as service providers are contending with a surgeon request for low capacity utilization equipment. Today we want to look at this if there's going to be a possibility in the first place. We know that we have a lot of sun so the source of this solar energy is not a problem but how do you get it to your house? Well we have a public affairs analyst that has just joined us, Wisdom Chap Chumbo is here with us. Wisdom, good morning and welcome to the program. Yes, good morning. Thank you for having me. Hope you can hear me clearly. Yeah I can hear you clearly. Well like I said there's a lot of sun you know some people say if you put an egg in your car and you you wind up and leave it in the sun when you come back the egg is cooked probably. Well it is that good or that bad depending on where you stand but this thing about alternative sources of energy using solar energy is it possible in our country Nigeria given the economic situation and everything around it do you think that is a possibility in the nearest future or if not now? Well thanks for that. The truth is at the moment now what is currently happening if you want peace of mind the best option now for you to solve your power problem is to actually switch to solar. I mean we have sun in abundance in Nigeria and I don't see any reason why this should not be an option for us even in countries where they barely see sunlight I mean they are harnessing solar energy I mean in a very amazing way so I don't see why Nigeria what we are going through we shouldn't be able to do the same so truthfully we have no that option now the cost of work going above 200% at the moment if you use it in a return in your house now I mean you are a very big man you are a big man and I mean the people in the last mile cannot afford it at this point but the sun is free the sun is free you don't pay for the sun as long as there is sun with solar energy you're going to have power so why not why not so I think it's very doable it's very possible already the the electricity act signed by President Chinabu I mean like I shared in earlier episode of the show a chapter was dedicated to renewable energy it means we are beginning to get serious to leverage such like solar wind hydrogen and the rest of them to see how we can have alternative sources of energy but trust me if you want to have peace of mind now and if you really want to reduce your costs of power I mean to use funds for other things in the house your I mean you have to switch to solar you really don't have an option everybody wants the peace of mind but can your pocket give you the peace of mind that you want that's the question now because getting solar panels getting the inverters getting whatever you need to get how how affordable are these things right now and if they are not so affordable is it a problem of the people or the government what needs to be done because it doesn't seem affordable otherwise everybody will switch over well I mean I disagree with you I mean in a way look we've heard this thing for so long and it's a myth that needs to be demystified look solar and I'll tell you practically the cost of solar or the cost or you want to incur using solar depends on what you want to power so a woman in a real community who only has some some lighting points and just need to charge her phone you know she doesn't need to spend a millionaire or solar so depending on what you want to power will now affect the cost of what you're going to spend for the power be it as me even if you spend up to a millionaire to to set up your solar energy system now for your house look your panels solar panels will last you for 20 years your batteries if you get the best of them will last you for seven years the cost of fuel in the last seven years I mean we have we have gone up more than four five six ten times but you see when you acquire this solar I mean in the next seven years five years you see using the same energy solar solar energy system and your cost hasn't even gone up so I mean the economy is pretty clean for example let's do this calculation so you know how clean it is um if you I don't know how much you spend on fuel a day for those who use a generator multiply that amount by 365 days as multiplied by one year and look at the cost so if if you spend one one billionaire for example to to to acquire a solar let's see that's in one millionaire to buy so break that amount down spread across 12 months and let's say you're paying for it for a day so let's say you spend about nine or four thousand I don't know how much you spend in they multiply it now you see that what you spend for this year for your generator set is going to be different from next year so it might double that cost but if you spend that one millionaire to set up your solar home system for your boom the next year you're not spending that same cost yeah well we stop you see that you see the difference between that uh and what I'm saying is that okay granted you might even spend two million on on electricity on power in one year and solar will give you the opportunity to spend maybe just one million there but how many people in Nigeria who want to switch over to solar energy can afford one million naira at a go it's the same problem like you know having house rents to pay that the government was trying to do the other time and say pay monthly because some people cannot afford the bulk sum at the same time so it's the same problem of bulk funds so if this bulk funds were there a lot of people would do it but can we okay so I would tell you I would tell you what players are doing in the sector look they are financing options you don't have to pay upfront for these things good that's information we need to know yeah yeah so some companies do pay as you go uh some companies do uh um lease payments some companies do I mean I'll try to pay much it depends on what what you want what you want so look there's solar home systems that even cost as low as 30 000 naira 35 000 naira that can charge your phone I mean charge some lighting points in your house I mean you don't need to get any bigger systems as low as 200 000 nair 300 000 naira that you can buy that can power your laptop your TV depending on what you do but the point is I mean what is in the sector the system now is which a lot of companies are doing is they are giving financing options and a lot of institutions are already supporting among I mean these financing methods for many companies and to make sure it gets to the to the to the customer so you really cannot like the system I got um from my own house I mean I didn't pay upfront I didn't pay everything that they go you know the payment was spread across a period of time so I paid in installments you know and at the end of the day the system is mine today and I mean I don't have to go back again to begin to buy I mean I don't I've not used generator in my house for the longest of time you know so the point I'm trying to make is they are financing options in Nigeria this whole mentality of need to buy everything that they go we have to take it easy with us you know that's the clients people buy things using mortgage uh buy buy things and installments I mean I mean in Africa we want to buy everything outright here all the time wait wait let's get let's get it right is it that we want to buy everything outrightly or we want to sell everything outrightly because this this thing you're saying I'm not sure is to the people if you have a system where like we say pay small small it's acceptable a lot of people will jump on it and do what they need to do but the people who are selling how many of them are ready to accept this so you really should be talking to them not us so it's everywhere it's everywhere I mean if you're if you're in the in the in the clean energy business or solar energy business and and you you don't have financing options now I mean then I don't see what I don't see what you're doing there so a lot of the companies I know who are selling some of these products they always have the financing option it's available everywhere you don't have to pay upfront for everything and these companies understand this because if you're waiting for um um the I mean I'm not Nigerian or the customers to be able to raise this money upfront I mean then they will not be able to meet up uh to do that looking at the economic challenges we have so these companies understand this these companies and so they are financing options spread across you pay in installments for a system you want I mean me for one I have been connected a few of these um customers to the companies I mean it's what I do uh so and I know that they are financing options for them and they have been leveraging this so the point you are making and let us get it first of all is solar works solar is the best alternative and options we have now um solar is what we're pushing the effect of what we are feeling now um economic wise for a lot of people and solar also is a clean an option for our environment we need to begin to keep the environment clean it's renewable and so it is the best fit to keep the environment clean for us now at this time those gensets have not been helping us we are facing a lot of climate issues environmental issues those genset police police the environment so it is not helping us but solar is a cleaner option and best alternative at this point if the issue is affordability I mean there are affordable options that can work for every single person it's it's good information it's good information that you put out there that there's a plan there's a financing plan for a lot of companies they give this but um you said one section of this electricity bill was dedicated to renewable energy and all that but what specific policy would you want to see from the present administration for instance that will give people the leverage that will give people this opportunity to access this solar energy so much I hear NNPCL has said that they are that they're thinking about putting some charging points for electric cars in their filling stations and all that okay that is a welcome thing that is government doing something but what particular policy do you think will drive the process of people acquiring this solar energy this renewable energy that we so desire in Nigeria I mean what the fedagome can do is really make available incentives I mean some of these solar products because we are we have not been able to at the time now produce a lot of it in country or manufacture a lot of this in country they are mostly important and what is really present in cost I mean for some of these companies in this product into the country so I think what fedagome can do is policies that that's I mean that drive a lot of incentives for these companies tax incentives I mean impact incentives I mean it should not take a hula balloon to clear my solar products at the ports and then in the long run fedagome should work around how do we begin to manufacture some of this because when we produce this in country when we are able to have a lot of solar manufacturing factories a lot of solar assembly factories in country we are going to reduce the cost so if the solar panels are produced in country if the batteries have the components charge controllers and all those things that make up the solar components solar power components if they are manufactured or produce in country we would drive down that cost more than nearly 50% for the for the customers themselves so a lot of policies I want to see and which I see that the new electricity act I mean a bit of it is driving that policy wise championing a lot of renewable energy mix in our part and I wanted to see components and all of that so I mean I look forward to state governments as they implement the electricity act in their various states I want to see how they are supporting renewable energy sources socially solar to in the energy mix in their various states you see how they can build many grids you know and all of that they can also reduce the the weight on the grid which is causing the issues now and also part of that you see a lot of companies that we even send power to the grid which we currently do not have with the old law from 2005 so the thing is what federal government really can do in collaboration with the state government this is going to the national economic council chaired by the vice president to see I mean in collaboration with the state government how can we begin to create incentives for companies that work within I mean the solar space renewable energy space I mean there's a lot you can do it and waste your energy also so how who kind of incentive do we need to put into there and I mean to give these companies some some leverage to work on and believe me manufacturing in country is at the core of all of the states that can happen from Nigeria if we are able to produce these things in country yeah if we have five six seven solar by manufacturing plant assembly plants in country where we make the solar panels where we make the batteries where we make charge controllers and all the companies that make up the solar system I mean then why would it be expensive we'll drive down the cost in the long run I mean and that's the way to go I'm hoping that would be something that we see with this new presidential administration okay thank you so much wisdom for that I'm sure a lot of people will be looking for you to connect them to these companies that will give them a plan that will make them own solar energy thank you for your time on the show this morning thank you so much okay that was wisdom chap jumbo a public affairs analyst talking to us about alternative energy and we zeroed in on solar energy as we wrap up the show let me just remind you this or leave you with this quote one machine can do the work of 50 ordinary men no machine can do the work of one extraordinary man that is according to Albert Hubbard I hope you remember that as you go about your duties today my name is Nyam Goul on behalf of the entire crew of breakfast on plus tv I say have a wonderful day bye