Kazeem Abubakar, a research expert in sustainable development, says Nigeria is gradually moving from the long-standing notion that countries must pollute before pursuing environmental sustainability.

Mr Abubakar, also the deputy director of research at the National Centre for Technology Management, said this in an interview in Abuja on Wednesday.

He cited findings from a recent study that analysed Nigeria’s energy transition using World Bank data and comparisons with BRICS countries.

BRICS is an acronym representing an intergovernmental organisation of major economies, initially comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Coined in 2001, the bloc aims to foster economic cooperation, geopolitical coordination, and counterbalance Western-dominated global institutions, representing a significant portion of the world’s population and GDP.

Mr Abubakar said the study examined the applicability of the Environmental Kuznets Curve, which traditionally posits that environmental degradation increases during early economic growth before declining later. He explained that the research focused on access to clean cooking fuels and technologies in rural areas, where energy poverty was most pronounced.

Mr Abubakar said, “Our findings show that Nigeria is attempting to deviate from that pathway. We found a strong positive relationship between Nigeria’s progress and the average performance of BRICS countries in rural clean cooking access.”

The deputy director also said that the BRICS comparison was deliberate, given Nigeria’s emerging economy status and its interest in joining the bloc, adding that the country was not lagging as widely assumed.

Regarding the study’s hypotheses, Mr Abubakar said the results showed that Nigeria was expanding access to clean cooking technologies at a pace comparable to that of fast-growing economies.

He, however, noted that fossil fuel consumption remained high, revealing a moderately negative relationship and highlighting Nigeria’s transitional energy status.

”Nigeria is building green energy infrastructure, but oil and gas still dominate the energy mix,” Mr Abubakar said.

He noted that the trend reflected complexity rather than failure, noting that government efforts to promote clean cooking fuels aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to Mr Abubakar, clean cooking impacts health, gender equality, climate action and poverty reduction.

Mr Abubakar added that the study recommended channelling fossil fuel revenues into domestic clean energy investments to accelerate sustainable growth.

”Nigeria has an opportunity to pursue development that combines economic growth with sustainability from the outset,” Mr Abubakar said. 

(NAN)