Nigeria Content Online

Two
Nordic countries, Sweden and Finland, are exploring opportunities for
green businesses in Nigeria, as part of efforts to step up their trade
and investment promotion activities in Nigeria.

The
Cleantech or Green business involves bringing in technologies that will
help in managing Nigeria’s environment to gain commercial value.

Lauri
Voionmaa, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Finland, Nigeria, and
Efraim Gómez, First Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden, in Abuja, said
Nigeria is ripe for introduction of clean technology business, adding
that it is worrisome that Nigeria, up till this moment, treats wastes
as wastages, instead of commodities with economic value.

The
two countries said they have recently paid a visit to Cross River State
which, according to them, will host the pilot stage of the project,
based on the fact finding mission.

Mr.
Voionmaa said: “Finland and Sweden are global leaders in clean and
green technology, and champions of sustainable and competitive
economies. They are vocal in the global climate change debate, pursuing
ambitious emission cuts, comprehensive assistance in adaptation
schemes, and timely forestry measures. Cross River State has made a
name for itself, in and outside of Nigeria, for its dedication to
environmental issues – protecting and turning its natural endowments
into vehicles for responsible economic development.

“Cross
River and us Nordics are a perfect match. The opportunities for Green
business between us are abundant. I look forward to explore how we can
tap into the huge potentials in clean technology, green knowledge
management, and ICT for climate change.”

Waste to energy

Their
plan is to use Cross River State as the springboard for the numerous
activities they plan to embark on in this regard in Nigeria.

“We
want to see how our business can go straight into efforts of Cross
River State, not only on the government side, but also on the private
sector level; but we have not concluded exploration. We are looking at
various aspects of Cross River State economy like waste management,”
said Mr. Voionmaa.

The
representative of the two Nordic countries said they are convinced that
with the new technology they plan to bring in, about 6kilowatt of
electricity will be generated from wastes collected in the state.

Nordic
countries are versed in waste management, because waste is a commodity
that they have learnt to turn into energy, according to Mr. Gomez, who
added that Cross River can be self sustaining on waste if they can
convert it to energy.

“For
a city of the size of Cross River, we are certainly going to produce 6
to 7 megawatt of electricity from waste management,” he said.

“There
is huge potential for waste management in Nigeria. Ordinarily, in
Nigeria, waste is disposed as waste, treated as something annoying, but
it can be actually useful, for fuels. The next step is we have to
report back to our countries and for a preliminary assessment. That
will depend on the next discussions.”

Apart
from introduction of high technology, there will be capacity building
and cooperation with Nigerian universities for technology transfer.

Nigerian
president, Goodluck Jonathan, visited Finland and Sweden in May 2009,
together with representatives of the Nigerian business community and in
company of John Odey, Minister of Environment.

Also,
Minister for Foreign Trade of Finland, Pave Väyrynen, visited Nigeria
in March 2010 and the Swedish Vice Minister for Trade, Gunnar
Wieslander, made similar visit to Nigeria in 2009. Both led large
business delegations, representing experts in energy, environment, and
information and communication technology.