Ewa Advocates Use Of Bio-Diesel For Energy

The Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Ita Ewa has called for the diversification of the country’s energy sources by encouraging the use of bio-diesel from jatropha plant.

The minister made the call at a workshop in Abuja organised to sensitise the public on the importance of encouraging bio-diesel production from jatropha curcas for use as renewable energy .

He said Nigeria had many renewable energy sources, such as “solar and small hydro power, bio-gas, wind and improved wooden stove’’.

Ewa noted that the gap between the country’s energy need and supply was much in addition to the associated environmental issues in the conventional sources of energy .

The minister said there was a need for “effective exploitation and utilisation to harness our abundant renewable energy sources”.

According to him, over the years, ministries, stakeholders, had called for diversification and decentralisation of energy sources in order to ensure stable power generation in the country.

He disclosed that the need to improve energy supply informed the work of the Research and Development Department of the ministry to produce bio-diesel from jatropha as an alternative energy source.

Also speaking, Director General of Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) Professor Abubakar Sambo said because Nigeria’s oil resources were limited, there was a need for public enlightenment to look for alternative sources.

Sambo said that Nigeria still had the opportunity of producing jatropha as an alternative to crude oil, adding that the country must grow millions of Jatropha plants in thousands of hectares to produce millions of litres of diesel oil.

He called on Nigerians to go into jatropha farming as a source of diesel production and source of income.

President , Nigeria Jatropha Farmers Association, Chief Bayo Ajayi expressed gratitude to ECN and the Federal Government for organising the workshop, saying that the workshop would encourage youths to take to jatropha farming as a means of living thus helping to curtail incidences of social unrest in the country.