Education
Combining indigenous innovation, smart technologies can accelerate Nigeria’s energy access – Experts – EnviroNews
– Advertisement –
Two experts have said that a combination of indigenous innovation, smart technologies and strategic investments can significantly accelerate Nigeria’s progress toward universal energy access and sustainable development.
The experts said this while speaking at the 2026 8th Innovation Week of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ikeja Branch, on Thursday, June 25, in Lagos.
The event had the theme, “Engineering Adaptable Solutions for Energy Access and Sustainable Development for All.”
Mr. Niyi Tayo, an official of Verrakki (a member of Andersen Consulting), said Nigeria must urgently adopt Artificial Intelligence (AI), predictive analytics and smart grid technologies to address its chronic electricity shortages and drive economic growth.
Tayo, a Senior Partner, Energy and Natural Resources Marketing Unit at Verrakki, said: “Nigeria’s energy challenge has gone beyond infrastructure deficits to include operational inefficiencies, fragmented data systems and poor asset management.
“Despite decades of investment and reforms, about 87 million Nigerians still lack access to electricity, while millions connected to the national grid continue to endure unreliable supply.”
According to him, achieving universal energy access will require a transition from conventional infrastructure management to intelligent systems capable of predicting failures, optimising operations and improving service delivery.
Tayo said the country’s power sector remained burdened by ageing infrastructure, gas supply constraints, vandalism, weak transmission capacity and recurring grid disturbances.
He said these challenges had continued to undermine industrial productivity, discourage investment and increase operating costs for businesses across the country.
“The dominant operating culture in much of Nigeria’s energy infrastructure remains reactive. We wait for equipment to fail before intervening.
“We also wait for outages and system disruptions before repairing and identifying underlying weaknesses.
“That approach is expensive, inefficient and fundamentally incompatible with the goal of delivering reliable electricity to every household, business and institution that depends on power for economic and social development,” he said.
The energy expert said AI was creating opportunities for operators to move from reactive maintenance to predictive operations driven by real-time data and advanced analytics.
According to him, machine-learning systems can continuously monitor infrastructure performance, detect abnormalities and predict equipment failures before they occur.
He said such technologies could significantly reduce downtime, lower maintenance costs and improve the lifespan of critical power assets.
“Artificial Intelligence changes the logic of infrastructure management entirely.
“Through real-time sensor data, machine learning and predictive analytics, engineers can identify vulnerabilities before they become failures, reducing outages while improving reliability, safety and operational efficiency across the energy value chain,” Tayo said.
Tayo added that digital twin technology was already demonstrating how virtual replicas of physical infrastructure could transform asset management in the energy sector.
He explained that digital twins enabled engineers to monitor equipment remotely, simulate operating conditions and assess future performance using live operational data.
According to him, the technology can be deployed across Nigeria’s electricity network to improve transformer health monitoring, distribution fault prediction and grid optimisation.
He said integrating AI with renewable energy systems would also help operators manage the growing complexity of electricity networks.
Tayo noted that AI-powered forecasting tools could accurately predict solar generation, wind patterns and electricity demand, helping utilities maintain grid stability while reducing energy losses.
The consultant identified data fragmentation as one of the biggest structural weaknesses within Nigeria’s electricity ecosystem.
He said generation companies, transmission operators, distribution companies and regulators often operated separate systems with limited data sharing and coordination.
“One of the greatest inefficiencies in our energy sector is not necessarily a hardware problem but an information problem. Data trapped in silos cannot power anything.
“When critical stakeholders operate with different information, different systems and different assumptions, the entire network loses the intelligence required to function efficiently as a modern energy system,” the energy expert said.
Tayo noted that the future of electricity management would depend on integrating generation, transmission and distribution assets through shared digital platforms supported by AI and Internet of Things technologies.
He said smart grids would enable operators to manage the power network as a connected ecosystem capable of responding to changing conditions in real time.
According to him, engineering success should no longer be measured solely by infrastructure delivered but by the impact such infrastructure creates.
“The measure of engineering excellence is not the number of megawatts installed, kilometres of transmission lines constructed or facilities commissioned.
“The real measure is whether businesses can operate productively, hospitals can function without interruption, students can study at night and communities can participate meaningfully in economic development because reliable electricity exists,” he said.
Tayo urged engineers to acquire skills in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, machine learning, data science and systems integration.
He said the next generation of engineering leaders would be defined by their ability to combine traditional engineering expertise with digital capabilities.
According to him, emerging technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities for innovation, productivity and job creation across industries.
On his part, Mr. Dotun Adesina, Principal Partner at MacLevi Projects Ltd., called for greater emphasis on locally-developed energy solutions to address Nigeria’s electricity challenges.
Adesina said Nigeria possessed abundant gas resources, solar potential, biomass assets and technical talent capable of supporting sustainable energy development.
He commended ongoing efforts to deepen implementation of the Nigerian Gas Master Plan, describing gas as a strategic resource for industrialisation and affordable power generation.
According to him, local innovation will reduce dependence on imported technologies and lower the cost of deploying energy solutions across the country.
“We cannot afford to sit back and wait for foreign solutions to our energy challenges. The resources are here, the opportunities are here and the talent is here.
“What is required is the commitment to innovate locally, manufacture locally and develop solutions that reflect Nigeria’s realities rather than relying entirely on technologies designed for different environments and different economic conditions,” he said.
Adesina said decentralised energy systems, local manufacturing and multidisciplinary collaboration would be critical to achieving reliable electricity access nationwide.
By Funmilola Gboteku