The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has renewed its call for wider renewable energy adoption, saying it is a practical way to tackle unreliable electricity supply and the rising cost of self-generation facing manufacturers.
The Director General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said industrial operators must embrace cleaner and more efficient energy solutions if they want to reduce production costs and improve competitiveness. He argued that renewable energy investment can help ease pressure on businesses that currently depend heavily on diesel, gas and other costly alternatives.
His comments followed remarks by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, who said Nigeria could save $121bn in fuel costs by shifting to a power generation mix with 90 per cent renewable energy. Speaking at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 2026 Renewable Energy Outlook Conference in Lagos, the minister described the expected savings as a major economic gain for businesses, consumers and the government.
Tegbe said the Energy Transition Plan is not only a climate policy but also an economic strategy. He explained that the plan targets 277 gigawatts of installed electricity generation capacity by 2060, with solar expected to dominate the future energy landscape.
According to him, the transition will require about $10bn in additional annual capital expenditure above business-as-usual, but he said this should be viewed as an investment rather than a burden. He also said Nigeria and South Africa led Africa in solar power growth in 2025, and that Nigeria’s vast solar resources, private investment and supportive policy environment can sustain that momentum.
The minister stressed that natural gas will remain an important transition fuel while renewable energy deployment scales up. He said gas is necessary to provide reliable baseload power, but will not be the destination of Nigeria’s long-term energy journey.
Tegbe also urged manufacturers, processors, logistics operators and technology firms to take advantage of opportunities created by the Electricity Act 2023. He said embedded generation, industrial mini-grids, renewable energy procurement agreements and direct connections to renewable independent power producers are now legally supported under the law.
He added that energy reforms under the Bola Tinubu administration have already attracted more than $2bn in private sector investment, while sector revenues rose from about N850bn in 2023 to more than N1.5tn in 2025. He called on the private sector to participate actively in state electricity market consultations to help shape tariffs, grid access rules and renewable procurement frameworks.
Also speaking at the conference, the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency, Abba Aliyu, said renewable energy must move beyond rural electrification and become a driver of industrial growth, manufacturing expansion and digital infrastructure. He said the future economy will be more electricity-intensive because of artificial intelligence, data centres, electric mobility and advanced manufacturing.
Aliyu said mini-grids, solar-plus-storage systems and distributed energy resources should now be seen as industrial infrastructure capable of powering markets, agro-processing clusters, technology parks and manufacturing corridors. He said this shift would support jobs, strengthen exports and help position Nigeria as a regional clean energy hub.
MAN said the persistent energy gap has weakened competitiveness, discouraged investment and limited sector growth. Ajayi-Kadir said the deployment of renewable infrastructure offers a realistic path to a more resilient economy, lower operating costs and stronger quality of made-in-Nigeria goods.