Nigeria joins Egypt, South Africa in solar panel production

Nigeria has joined Egypt and South Africa as the third African nation to produce its solar panels for electricity purposes locally.

The Nigerian Science and Technology Minister, Professor Ita Okon Bassey Ewa, announced this yesterday when he led a delegation in a consolation visit to the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji.

The Minister said that the National agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI)has successfully produced solar Panels of International standard, which would now bridge the quantum of foreign exchange being spent on importing panels from Asia and Europe annually.

With that, Nigeria joins Egypt and South Africa as the only African nations with the technological capacity to mass produce solar panels.

Prof.Ewa, who was accompanied by is permanent secretary, Dr Dare Awosika and the Director General-NASENI,Prof. O.Adewuye, said they came to show solidarity with the effort of the power Minster to translate Nigeria dream into reality and to seek various areas of collaboration in defining ways in which science and engineering could impact and drive the rural development.

He said Science and Technology Minster believes that because of the difficult terrain in some parts of the country, clusters of electricity generating units as dams, wind and solar would be the best option forward and confirmed that his Ministry had done all studies relating to them and would invite the power Minster to come and see them soon.