- NGO Advocates Alternative Energy for SME Operators
The adoption of alternative sources of energy will help the Small and Medium Enterprise operators to run their businesses profitably on a sustainable basis, a non-governmental organisation, Climate Transformation and Energy Remediation Society, has said.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Mr Smart Amaefula, said this in a presentation made at an event in Abuja.
Amaefula said that apart from the high cost of fossil energy, which most SME operators rely on when grip power was not available, the carbon from fossil fuel was contributing to global warming and changing climate.
He stated, “Nigeria’s energy mix is predominantly fossil-powered. On the other hand, businesses in Nigeria are not maximising their potential in terms of productivity and income generation. The worst hit of these situations are the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
“According to SMEDAN and the National Bureau of Statistics, there are over 37 million enterprises in Nigeria (micro, 36,994,578; small, 68,168; and medium, 4,670) and they account for more than 84 per cent of jobs in the country.
“It is also estimated that MSMEs also account for about 48.5 per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and about 7.27 per cent of goods and services exported out of the country.”
He added, “Regrettably, almost all these MSMEs power their businesses with generators in the face of erratic national power supply. Not only do these SMES lose income generation, they are highly and constantly exposed to various health dangers associated with inhaling the fumes from the generators.
“It’s unfortunate that these SMEs do not have reliable access to alternative energy or do not know about alternative energy, and those who know complain of high cost of divesting to cleaner energy. Therefore, they are compelled beyond grave circumstances to operate their businesses using the traditional energy source that is dirty and poisonous.”
