Nigeria has enough biomass capacity to provide electricity – Expert

Micheal Kotter, the Chief Executive Officer, International Biogas and Bioenergy Centre of Competence, Germany, say Nigeria has enough biomass capacity to provide its electricity.
Kotter said this at the workshop on biogas technical presentation organised by the National Biotechnology Development Agency on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that even though it was his first visit to the country, he observed that Nigeria has a lot of biomass that could be channeled into the production of electricity and for organic fertiliser for agricultural purposes.
He said: “I can see a lot of biomass being grown here, so my perception of Nigeria is that it is an ideal place to produce biogas and pursue the technology.
“I think Nigeria has very big potential; we in Germany have a growth period of half a year or six months and after that, it is winter, and during this period nothing grows because it is very cold.
“But in Nigeria all year round you have plants growth and animal growing and waste is produced and biomass is produced, so here you have actually better chances for this technology.
“Also, the climate is always warm so you have very good conditions for the bacteria to grow, in Germany we have to pack in our bacteria because they like it warmth.’’
Kotter said that invasive plants in some environments that destroy farmlands could also be turned to biogas by the mixing it dung to produce energy.
He said that a country as big as Nigeria should be producing far more energy for its citizens to use through the cheap and efficient means of biogas production.
Kotter, however, cautioned that not all waste was good enough for efficient production of electricity, adding that fresh and newly generated waste produce better biogas.
Nnenna Nwankwo, a scientific officer from the Ministry of Science and Technology, one of the trainees commended the training.
She called on policy makers to make biogas a mandatory energy source for some public schools.
She said that this would encourage government to put funds in the technology to generate cheap energy for citizens while creating jobs