The Borno State Government has completed and unveiled the largest solar panel factory in the country and Africa at large.
The solar factory, which is located at Jimtilo Village, is said to be fully automated and has the capacity to produce 40 Megawatts worth of panels per year, with each panel having 300 watts capacity.
https://twitter.com/maidugu/status/1113006947282882562
Reasons behind the unveiling of the Solar plant
Engineer Ali Ibrahim, the man who is executing Governor Kashim Shettima’s industrialisation policy, recently spoke on the reason behind the Solar panel factory project.
According to him, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State intends is to set the stage for the state’s industrialisation. This is in line with the Governor’s desire to kick-start the economy of the state in response to the economic dislocation wrought on the state by a decade-long insurgency.
What the solar plant factory tends to achieve
Ibrahim pointed out that since power has been a major problem for the country, the Bornor State Government figured it would be nice to create a solution to it through investment in solar energy. Borno State is blessed with abundant sunshine.
He also noted many industrialised countries like Germany, uses solar energy to aid their industries, even though they have little sunlight compared to Borno State.
Economic development
By building a solar plant, Borno State Government is set to become an energy provider to many states and businesses as well.
According to Mr Ibrahim, their main goal is to provide cheap and affordable electricity to the very people that are in dire need of it. The project is also expected to boost economic activities, and ultimately help many people out of poverty.
“In fact, we believe that we will change the way we do irrigation in the North, Nigeria and the whole of Africa. It is very difficult for farmers to make profit in tandem with the sweat they put in because getting the energy to power their water generating sets is very costly due to fluctuating oil prices. We will provide access to energy through less costly but highly effective and affordable solar power to make it profitable and less strenuous for farmers to power their sets.”
How good is this for Borno State and Nigeria?
This is a welcome development for Borno State and Nigeria as a whole. Not only is this solar factory the largest in Africa, it will also poised to become a major source of revenue generation for the state. This will, in turn, improve the state’s Internally Generated Revenue.
Meanwhile, many Nigerians are pleased with this development. See some of their reactions below:
https://twitter.com/ApanpaOlasumbo/status/1113059410270597120
Great News
As this would also help reduce emission of gases that affect our environment.— Clement Johnson (@_clementjohnson) April 2, 2019
Goods news from borno, uncommon transformation from a troubled area. We're convinced that a lot more would have been achieved without the security challenges. Congratulations @GovBorno @KashimSM
— Isezuo Amoto (@reality4rea) April 2, 2019