By Hameed Muritala
As Nigeria seeks to join the rest of the world in transition to renewable and other sources of clean energy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called for stronger and better cooperation between the African nation and the United States of America.
He made the call on Monday, when he hosted the United States Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Ambassador Geoffrey Praytt, at the State House, Abuja.
President Tinubu presented his own perspectives to the US delegation on the role of Nigeria as an oil producing country and the importance of revenue from fossil oil to national economic well-being.
He assured that Nigeria would honour all its obligations to climate change and quest for clean energy.
President Tinubu however appealed to the United States and other developed nations to recognize that Nigeria and Africa have a challenge of poverty that must be addressed, noting that in the race for energy transition, the world must have a right balance between fossil fuel and green energy.
He said: “Nigeria is an oil producing nation and a developing economy that needs revenue from fossil fuel for growth and development. The new energy we are talking about represents just 5% of global energy requirements. We must find the right balance between new energy and fossil fuel because we have a problem of poverty in Africa.”
According to the United Nations, renewable energy is energy derived from natural sources that are replenished at a higher rate than they are consumed. Sunlight and wind, for example, are such sources that are constantly being replenished. Renewable energy sources are plentiful and all around us.
