On March 26, 2023, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo laid the foundation stone of the first solar panel manufacturing plant in Nigeria on a 15.8-hectre plot in Gora, Nasarawa State. According to TVC News, the project will cost $172 million, with the Bank of China funding 85% and the Nigerian government funding the remaining 15%. As reported by TVC News, Nasarawa State was chosen as the location of the factory because the main mineral used to manufacture solar cells—silica—is native and in abundance in the region. Silica is common sand and is used to make silicon, which is an inexpensive semiconductor used to make solar panels. Since solar cells are the most expensive item in solar panels, the solar panel factory will drastically reduce the price of solar panels in Nigeria since solar cells are made from silica. Ten years ago, the government established the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) Solar Energy Limited in the capital Abuja to assemble solar panels. The solar panels the factory assembles currently produce 25 megawatts of energy for Nigeria. As per The Guardian, the solar panel manufacturing plant now under construction will be one of the largest of its kind in Africa when fully operational. According to The Guardian, the Managing Director of NASENI Solar Energy Sani Haruna stated that the solar panel manufacturing plant is the brainchild of President Muhammadu Buhari who instructed the NASENI to begin manufacturing solar panels locally. According to Vanguard, Osinbajo said the solar panel factory will be a game changer for Nigeria because “in sub-Saharan Africa, $50 billion worth of diesel fuel is used each year, with diesel generators producing more energy than the entire energy grid in 17 countries in the region . . . . In Nigeria . . . generator emissions are equivalent to emissions from all the country’s 11 million cars put together.”
