Northern Nigeria's Future in the Biofuels Market

It has been bedevilled by a series of socio-economic problems ranging from militancy in the Niger Delta region, resource control, unemployment, decay of basic infrastructure, poverty, illiteracy and above all "mass production" of greenhouse gasses that led to the deforestation of more than 1/3th of Northern Nigeria’s vast agricultural land.

Every now and then, the northern part of Nigeria and its inhabitants have become instruments of intimidation and humiliation by its southern brothers owing to the Godly-endowed large deposit of fossil fuel available in the region [Niger Delta]. Even though the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has specifically stated that all land resources belong to the Federal Government, yet they come up with new ways of manipulating our resources from increase in revenue allocation to be far higher than those of other regions, to the notorious resource control all in an effort to claim full ownership of the resources that our forefathers suffered and laboured for. They were so quick to forget that these refineries were built from the proceeds of export of groundnut, cotton, hides and skin.

If our forefathers could use crude implements to produce agricultural products that sustained the North, Nigeria and also served as a source of export, I see no reason why our generation with wide range of sophisticated mechanised implements should not resort to agriculture and reduce our dependency on fossil fuel and create our own fuel that is renewable and environmentally-friendly. Northern Nigeria with its vast fertile agricultural land and manpower on the other hand can be a leading exporter of biofuels topping countries like Brazil. The raw materials are usually sugar cane, cassava, groundnut oil, castor bean, sweet potato, sweet sorghum, etc., all of which are being cultivated in Northern Nigeria and have proved to give high yields.

To achieve this, the Northern Governors’ Forum must device a means of assisting our local farmers with minimum or even zero interest loans, fertiliser subsidy, easy access to farm implements for hiring at a cheaper rate, robust agricultural extension service and a strategic medium of purchasing the agricultural yields from the farmers for onward processing into biofuels.

Critics and cynics have criticised biofuel production. For instance, they maintain that due to the lucrative tendency of biofuel, they perceive that our peasant farmers may convert from production of food crops to the production of raw materials for biofuel. This situation they claim may lead to rise in food prices. Contrary to their claims, new techniques are emerging that utilise the inedible cellulose components of plants to produce high grade biofuel. It has also been shown that the inedible portion of plants contain far more complex hydrocarbons [active ingredients] for bio fuel production. This has turned out to be double advantage to our farmers, because they would cultivate food crops and raw materials at the same time.

They are also of the opinion that monoculture and intensive farming may become popular, which may cause environmental damage. On the other hand, poverty in Nigeria is the main cause of environmental destruction. If farmers in Nigeria become oil farmers who sell biofuels on the international market, their income will increase substantially and pressure on the environment will decrease and in turn control environmental damage.

A UN study has shown that biofuels made from crops grown in the tropics [sugar cane, maize, sweet sorghum, palm oil and cassava, etc] have very high energy efficiency, and luckily, Nigeria is situated in the tropical region of the world. Therefore, Northern governors should not lose this opportunity of leading the world in biofuel production.

View the Daily Trust story by clicking here.

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