By Lenah Bosibori
Nigeria’s energy sector has undergone significant transformation due to changes in its renewable energy regimes and economic conditions but still lacks verifiable energy data sources to be used by various organizations and institutions according to experts.
According to Mr Peters Onyilo the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Axiomata Technologies Limited, Nigeria has many government agencies responsible for data collection in the energy sector but they don’t have a unifiable registry where the information is archived.
“We have to get data from secondary sources because we don’t have access to them,” said Onyilo during a webinar dubbed ‘Renewable Energy Pricing Policy Gaps and Market Constraints in Africa: A Case of Nigeria organized by Africa Research and Impact Network (ARIN).
Onyilo adds that there are projects that they lack information on as experts in the energy sector and by the time they get to know about them, they are forced to do their findings and look for research data.
“There are projects we don’t have information of, by the time we get the news of these projects we have to do our findings and look for research data about these energy projects, this is because the government does not incentivize how these data are being obtained or being archived, as I am talking to you now, there is no verifiable energy data source in Nigeria,” said Onyilo.
According to data, Nigeria’s oil production amounted to some 1.5 million barrels per day in 2023, an increase when compared to the previous year, in 2022, Nigeria exported $52.1B in crude Petroleum making it the 9th largest exporter of Crude Petroleum in the world.
He further adds that despite various energy policies being implemented in Nigeria, the gaps and challenges remain high. Data collection and interpretation where many data is lacking and acquisition is a challenge making it impossible to be used by other institutions and organizations in the energy sector.
Onyilo who is also an expert in Mathematics and Modelling at the United Nations Program added that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning is a good topic that can be incorporated in the gaps and challenges but it depends on the data fed in for effective results.
“There is a requirement for AI and Machine learning algorithms to be effective in producing results, where we do not achieve that data threshold results, you are going to get subsequent errors and you will be prone to error resulting in a negative outcome,” he added.
He referred to when he was presenting that he had to deal with a lot of missing data that forced him to fill in with extra corrections. “This is even visible for some of the data I am presenting, I have to deal with a lot of missing data and I am forced to fill in and then make extra corrections whereby if I continue to do that, my policy variables are subject to be errors and analysis are also subject to erroneous in the long run,” added Onyilo.
On the issue of Global energy pricing and how it affected energy pricing in Nigeria, Onyilo said that the Volatility and instability where a lot of countries sought to stabilize their energy consumption and demand led to many self-enriching entities becoming sustainable. “It affected the flow of transactions across economies where demand and supply flattened out,” he said.
“Though some countries in the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East were able to regulate energy in such cases.” He added. “The effect is very much stronger in the entire West Africa because the Federation and reliability became reliable in energy in global pricing.”
“In West Africa, we do not enjoy internal stability despite the growth in energy and demand for fossil energy. It does translate to any sustainable economic development because we do not have any clear policy drafts and policy review that could help do that,” he adds.
For Nigeria to move forward there needs to be a lot of evidence in informed policy strategies that will be executed in the long run according to Onyilo. “One such approach is ensuring that there is data robustness across all sectors where we will contribute to open data exchange platforms for energy agencies across the country, and ensure that they are capable of exchanging the data,” he adds.
“It is possible to see how this model can contribute to stability and reduce foreign direct investment in Nigeria and in Africa as a whole,” he reiterated.