Pastor Moses Onoja, the Managing Director and CEO of SECODI Energy Solutions Lagos bears his mind on the energy situation of the country and proffers solutions on the way forward in this exclusive interview with MONDAY OJOMA of TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE
TIME AFRICA MAGAZINE
Excerpts:
By way of introduction, let’s meet you, sir.
My name is Moses B. Onoja, CEO of SECODE Solution, and by the special grace of God, the first man to own and drive a solar car in Nigeria. We have been in the company for over 20, let’s say 20 years in renewable energy, but as a company, which is SECODE Solutions Limited. We started in 2017. Secode Solutions Limited is a renewable energy company that builds on solar, hydro, and other sustainable renewable energy. And the passion is this, nobody should face the challenge of energy.
Energy should be one of the most vital resources that we have in our nation because it controls every sector. Without energy, the health sector willbe affected. Without proper energy, businesses will be affected, like what we were having until the intervention of solar for so many businesses.
Without energy, a lot of our activities, even entertainment in our home, there won’t be proper entertainment or relaxation without proper energy. So we looked at it and we felt, Africa needs better energy, and Secode was born out of that need. And we’re able to train a lot of people, we sensitize them, we train those who are called solar installers now. For the period of, let’s say six, seven years, we’ve been training. Today, we have countless people that are called solar installers. Some of them were directly trained by this company called Secode Solutions, while some of them were indirectly trained by those whom we have trained. And we’ve made renewable energy acceptable to a lot of people, and we wish that many people in Nigeria would adopt renewable energy. Now, theimportance of it is this. Renewable energy is called clean energy, eco-friendly energy, whereby our health is improved with the reduction of the usage of public wealth, appliances, vehicles, and the rest.
By the time we start embracing renewable energy, a lot of businesseswill improve. Let’s take, for instance, a Barbie saddle that has been running
on a gas generator from morning till night may end up not making a good profit by the end of the day. We are not saying that a generator is not good for backup, but depending on it for a very long time, it’s not profitable.
This time, we are encouraging people to look at renewable energy. Like, for the Barbie Saddle, if they embrace having solar as a major source of energy, they will end up making more profit than warranty. I’m using that as an example with other businesses, and thereby it’s impacting the economy also because when people are making better profit in their businesses, it will also improve the economy.
When we have stability in all the sectors that is energy stability in all the sectors, the economy will get better. That has been what has improved the Western world because of their constant electricity. Their economy is robust. If we start by addressing it, encouraging Nigeria to start embracing renewable energy, I tell you, just give Africa in the next few years, what we’ve been working on for decades, or centuries, we’ll be able to achieve them within the short term, because power is necessary to economy. So we look at the importance is very wide when you want to talk about the importance of renewable energy. Like I said, it has an impact on our health.
It has an impact on our resources. I have a family right now that, they’ve told me that they’ve saved a lot of money after they’ve installed solarin their home, and that fund that they’ve saved is what they’ve used in improving, that is the business that they are doing. Initially, they were
spending 200 and something thousand every month on PHCN, and the fossil fuel consumption was also there.
So at the end of the day, they were spending up to like 600,000, both diesel and PHCN. When we introduced solar energy to them, now their energy cost is within the level of 100,000. They are using DC, which we call DC is a direct current product. Those are products that do not necessarily have to work with an inverter or AC, they work directly with the battery, DC current. So with that, it has helped them in reducing the cost of their daily expenses. So a lot that solar can give, and many people who would want to know more about this can also follow us on our Facebook page.
When you search Secode, you’ll see Secode’s Facebook pages, Instagram, and the rest. And our phone numbers are also there. We can offer free conversation services to people that need our services, and also adviseaccordingly.
The government can also partner with companies like ours that is based on passion. We are passionate about an eco-friendly environment. If they can partner with us, subsidizing the price of solar appliances for the masses, it will go a long way. There are places we can also power, villages that don’t have power. There are villages for the past 10 years, they’ve never seen what they call light. Their electricity system broke down and that was all. And some communities are due to have electricity. They don’t have electricity. Those places, solar can go there and power such communities.
And I see it also as a means of government generating revenue. It’s easier to install solar in communities than to take the grid there. It’s very, very, you can just set up a solar farm and power the whole community.
And the government is making money and also doing its best to better the life of Nigeria. So, if they can partner with us, they could easily do production of solar generators that can be used by individuals, communities, businesses, and the rest of them. Our recent solution is that is the bottled water company.
The bottled water company can run on solar also, thereby reducing their overhead expenses. Offices that are working nine to five can also adoptit. Now, when many people are embracing this renewable energy, do you know that our national grid can now be channeled to the industries, all right? Thereby giving them a good supply of energy when we can take care of all this daily use for homes and offices.
So, those are some of the things we feel the government, government should partner with us. And we’ll do a lot with them to see how Nigeria can be better. If they just give us a few years, we can come back and review where we are, where the government started, and see what has become of the economy of Nigeria in the short term.
What are the challenges so far?
The challenges so far we are facing now, okay, I’ll start with, well, andthe economy itself is a challenge right now. The constant rise in the dollar,
but recently, we appreciate the government for doing a lot to ensure that the dollar coming down.
The Naira is getting stronger by the day. So, that has been a challenge in recent times. I think, for some years now, it has been like, every day you wake up, you are facing a new challenge on how to import a product. So, you are telling your customer today that this product is 1,000. In the next, maybe the next day, not a few days, you are coming, the customer is coming back, and you are telling that customer that the product price is no longer 1,000, it’s now 1,500. You understand? It’s so disheartening.
So, that was one of the challenges we were facing. Then, another challenge also is that the government needs to check the kind of product that comes into the country. We have a lot of low-quality products that come into the country. Then, all that is basically on quality and ensuring that clients are satisfied. People get to compare our prices with those of them that are cheaper, but not looking at the fact that these things are not good enough for people to use. And that has been the story of a lot of people. So, quality control, I think, is something that a department that has been set should check in that quality should be sustained. If a product is not good, it should be taken out of the country. It’s one challenge we are facing. So, people use that as a means of competing with quality, and I thinkthat is not fair. When you have good products, we should look at Nigeria’s
quality. Okay, last time, I was saying what a product is, and we’re talking
about the quality.
Then, very funny, the manufacturing company asked, do I want them tonproduce based on my quality or standard quality? Why? Because they tell, this is, I’m in Nigeria, and many people have been going there and they tell them, do it based on our quality. But it should be a standard that, okay, any product coming to Nigeria should meet up with that standard. And any product that is not okay should not be allowed into the country. It’s another challenge. Then, support from the government. Some of us have been trying as much as possible to begin to produce these solar appliances here in Nigeria, but one, of the challenges we are facing is the area of government supporting industries that need the support.
Why I’m saying this? Currently, we need people who are weighing what we are producing. Okay, say for instance, you have about 100 people waiting for your product and your production is just, let’s say, 20% of what they need. So, and these are things, why we are struggling, the platform, production platform in Nigeria is not there, okay? Unlike some countries where if you want to produce something you just take your design and it is done. So, those platforms should be created for people like us. And those are some of the things I feel are major, major issues in the country. Right now, we are working on creating a platform ourselves, which is not supposed tobe. I feel in a country that God has blessed like Nigeria, we shouldn’t have missionaries that you don’t need to, as a startup, you will be looking for how to import them, to bringing them into the country is another great challenge. License and the rest of them, it’s not easy to get. So, in those areas, if the government can mitigate them, on our side, production will be very, very fast and the economy will get better.Just imagine we are producing this solar generator in good quantity and where it’s costing. And where it’s costing. Because we have African countries that we export to, right? We export to. So, if we have a good number of them, we could take a good percentage of the market in renewable energy. And that will have a great impact on the economy of Nigeria. So, a lot actually for us to say, well, we just have to, sometimes we try as much as possible to, like, and we are trying to understand our governmental operations too and the rest. But we appreciate the government so far for whatever they are doing. And we just hope they do more.
So, looking at the market, what are the acceptability levels of solar andrenewable energy, and also the cost implications in Nigeria today What’s your view?
Yeah, the acceptance is getting wider by the day. Unlike 2017, when we started, a lot of people were finding it difficult to accept renewable energy. One, I think the costs frightened a lot of them. Then secondly, was the new thing, like, how sure can this thing work for us? So, but with the level of centralization we have done, and the pieces of training we’ve conducted in many states, in fact, all over Nigeria, we have trained almost all the states. So, it has helped, and people are accepting it. But the challenge people have right now is the initial cost. Many people tell you, I want solar. What is the initial cost? You know, the truth is that the initial cost is huge, but for a lot of people that have the fund, I used to tell them, this is just an investment because the return on it is huge. Here, for instance, the feeding station that, I don’t want to call it a name anyway, the feeding station that just installs solar. Initially, there were overhead expenses on energy. Let’s say, for instance, was like 700,000 every month. Okay, now when solar came into the picture, it reduced it to like 200,000. Now let’s say, for instance, that 500,000 multiplied by 10 months, which is five million. And multiplied by 20 months, which is five million plus five million, which is 10 million Naira.
Now, when you look at this money, perhaps the installation of that solar would have been, let’s say, 10 million Naira. I’m giving an instance at 10 million Naira. Now, in two years, you have, less than two years, you recoup the money. The remaining years, are all profitable for you. You are not going to be spending that money. Those monies are saved. Those 500,000 now, are returned on the investment that you have made. Over the years, you end up spending, you would have spent maybe 30 million in 10 years, whereas you are just spending, perhaps, five million in 10 years. You can see the difference.
So, the initial cost, as I said, is a major challenge. If the governmental partner with us wants to see a way to make it very easy for, through CBN, or I know CBN has its affiliation with some of the banks on something like this, we can have a soft plan for people, maybe a daily payment system, a weekly payment system, a monthly payment system, by annual, or something like that, that can make it easier for people to get access to this. I think that will be because it’s a major challenge for a lot of people. This morning alone, I was informed, even in our group, that somebody just dropped a voice note that the clients are all clamoring for payment in installments and all that. So, we need that help at the company.
You made mention of substandard use, especially by quacks. What are the functions of regulatory bodies in this dimension? What role have they been playing?
To be candid, I don’t think I’ve heard or I’ve seen any regulation on this, and that, I feel, is not proper. And if, perhaps, the government does not have capable hands that have the skill or knowledge to identify those kinds of products, there are aspects in this field. You know, if you don’t know a thing, you are ignorant of a thing,anybody can just come and tell you that it is white, whereas it’s black because you don’t know. And you will accept it if they tell you, okay, and this battery is supposed to work for six months. Why should you buy a battery, let’s say, that is about 200,000 and it’s just going to work for two months? It doesn’t make any sense for anybody that wants to use renewable energy, because basically, it means in six months, I’m going to be buying another battery.
It’s quite discouraging. But why is that? We have batteries that can last one year, two years, and five years, without maintenance. We have batteries like that. So I believe the government can come and put, okay, we don’t want any kind of battery that cannot last, let’s say, below two years to not be allowed. Warranty below two years. So if that is being done, and the regulatory body is effective, because it’s one thing to have a regulatory body, but they are passive.
If they are active, I tell you, in less than, just give it a few months, you will see people will just be adopting solar. Many great people in this country are using solar, which they imported directly from the U.S., and India. They will not want to buy it from Nigeria. And they know that these things are not good for them, but we allow them in Nigeria. So I think, not just even solar, other products like that, electronics and the rest, so I think the government needs to do something about those aspects. It’s a very big challenge for us.
We went and picked somebody’s solar system. And what was the challenge? The person bought the solar not for up to three months. While we were doing a job at Accara, that was when the information came. And the person, the issue almost went to the police, and we intervened, and all that. When we discovered the batteries that were used were recycled batteries, recycled batteries. Now, where would this person go and report? And it would be taken off, you understand? So when we came into the picture, we had to seat the engineer that did that installation, home. These people don’t know this much. We have to help our nation, we have to help the masses. And that was how those batteries were swapped.
And my boys, we went together, they helped in doing that installation, all right? This woman, she’s happy today. If we have so many people like that, that are using quality products, many people will say they’re accepting solar. But some people just say they’re about solar, and say, no, no, no, no, no, because of their experience.
All right, finally, sir, your message to your customers, to the government, and Nigerians.
Accept renewable energy. Adopt it, if you’re a business owner, plan towards it, and have renewable energy as either your main source of generating energy or your backup, but you should have it so that you won’t be struggling with energy in your business. And look at it as an investment more, not like a luxury. Some people look at it as a luxury, so look at it as an investment. You are saving a lot of energy costs for yourself. And let us all agree with renewable energy which is the most sustainable in the world now. And that is what we stand for in Secodi, to make life easy for people.