The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has approved new standards (energy meters, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, inverters, batteries, and charge controllers) for renewable energy. This is part of the federal government’s efforts towards actualizing the economic diversification agenda in the renewable energy subsector across the country, to standardise the solar power industry to substantially increase its share in the global energy mix, in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of which is to attract more investments in the sector as well as increase access to power supply across the country and reduce the use of expensive and ecologically harmful diesel generators.

The SON is deploying a multi-stakeholder approach with consultations and inputs from relevant public-private entities to develop a more regulated and standardised market, which will encourage further investments into Renewable Energy (RE) and Efficient Energy (EE) sector. The agency is supported by the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), a technical assistance programme co-funded by the European Union and the German Government and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Power.

The organisation noted that due to its flexibility and affordability, solar power has fast become the most popular form of renewable power.

The NESP is aimed at improving the framework conditions for investments in the application of renewable energy and energy efficiency and rural electrification. This will provide guidance towards the achievement of the objectives of the strategy set for the implementation of renewable energy policy, that will foster investments in the domestic market for Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) and improving access to electricity in Nigeria.

Though flexible, the solar power is also affordable. It relies heavily on standardization. Standards play an essential part in testing, energy conversion, reflectance or materials properties, fabricating arrays, integrating into the smart grid and assuring workplace safety. About 37 standards were selected and approved in November 2020 under this subsector. This depicts the increasing relevance of the renewable energy. The solar power has fast become the most popular form of renewable power.

35 New ISO Standards for the Oil and Gas Industry Underway

The SON is also set to unveil about 35 new ISO standards for the nation’s oil and gas industry. This is important given the role the oil and gas sector play in Nigeria. This makes important that Nigeria key into the global trends to remain competitive at the international market.

The SON has set up Technical Committee (TC) meeting for the adoption of 35 ISO Standards for Nigerian use. The meeting is meant to capture details on standard requirements for metal corrosion inhibition, enhance regulation, certification, and speedy service delivery in the sector. This TC meeting will also help to harmonise practices in various sectors of the economy. The ISO standard will add a lot of value to the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry thereby generating revenue for the economy.

The 35 standards adopted include, ISO 3233-1 2019 part 1-3 paints and varnishes Determination of percentage volume of non-volatile matter, IS0 19097-1 2018 part 1 -2 Accelerated Life Test method of Mixed Metal Oxide Anode for Catholic Protection, ISO 13847: 2013 Petroleum and natural gas industries- pipelines transportation systems to name but a few.

In the early months of 2020, the COVID-19 which started in China and spread to few countries in 2019, caused most nations to impose serious restrictive measures in and into their countries. Non-essential businesses, schools, markets and even hospitals became no go arears as travel bans were imposed by many countries. This led to serious hunger, forcing many countries, including capitalist-oriented ones to resort to socialist policies as a way of ameliorating the excruciating pains passed through by its citizens.

As the restrictions and social distancing continued, it became obvious that many nations were becoming poorer by day. Nigeria for instance could no longer find buyers for its crude oil, the most important means of raising foreign revenue and exchange for investment, the country was plunged into its second recession in the life time of this administration, the worst since the birth of Nigeria. The recession was caused by many factors. The manufacturers could not import inputs and other intermediate products; thus, production was stalled. Second, workers were barred from office. Even if there were inputs for production, workers were not available to direct such processes. Third, while most workers were asked to stay at home with reduced or no salary, many were completely laid off and as such no monthly stipend for survival. This reduced the disposable income as well as the purchasing power of consumers, and as such affected the profitability of firms, many of which have not survived those harsh periods till now. The opportunity cost of this action was an increased poverty in the country.

Many nations around the world have eased down the restrictions or lockdowns, not because COVID-19 has been eradicated or the vaccine found, but to bring an end to the ensuing hunger that is ravaging their population. Apart from the fact that the original variant of the disease from China is still present, different variants have also developed. The latest being the “Omicrom variant”, said to be detected first in South Africa. The Omicron variant is of concern because it has a large number of mutations, some of which have been associated with potential increased transmissibility and possible immune escape, this means that there are chances people may get infected by it even if they have developed some natural immunity from previous COVID-19 infection, or following COVID-19 vaccination. Another issue about this variant is that its mutation has not been properly investigated and documented, hence, there is no proper health to guide actions against it.

In the light of the above, the omicron variant of the COVID-19 has generated a lot of fears among many nations. More than 50 nations, including the US, Canada, the UK, etc., have imposed stricter border controls as the variant is identified in 24 countries. So far, Canada, South Arabia, Tanzania have blocked flights in and out of their countries, the UK has announced a one moth restriction, Spain announced a state of emergency with a possibility of extension, France, Germany and Italy have also followed suit with new restrictions. These countries are undaunted by their actions despite WHO’s warning of likely worsening inequalities. The question now is, what will the consequences of this looming global restrictions, especially for countries like Nigeria, given the harsh experience of 2020?

Although the country has maintained a positive growth in GDP in the last four quarters since it exited the last recession in December 2020, the drop in the third quarter of 2021 real GDP growth to 4.03% from 5.01% in the second quarter could be worsened by this imminent global restriction and lockdown aimed at curtailing the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19.  This will lead to the resurgence of the economic woes of 2020 which led to the losses of means of livelihoods and closure of businesses. While the manufacturing sector will be amongst the worst hit, the telecoms sector will again be the mostly patronized sector as most businesses will device to virtual transactions.

 The federal government has also announced its resolve to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in 2022 in line with the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021. As said in the Nigerian parlance, deregulation, especially in the period of global restriction will “add pepper to salt” or worsen the already tensed situation of the average consumer who is facing a southward drop in the disposable income due to the increasing cost of living. Many industries will likely go moribund, given the low sales and the increasing production cost. It is therefore difficult to suggest that the outcome of deregulation in the period of global restriction against omicron variant of COVID-19 will be positive.

Indicative Actions

• One of the easiest ways to avert one of the problems (inability to import inputs) during the 2020 lock down and global restriction is to begin to source for inputs locally.
• Upgrade of infrastructures is also important because the restriction may cause more people, organisation and institutions to adopt virtual meetings for their daily activities. This will increase the traffic on the telecoms infrastructure. This is the season of more revenue for the firms under the industry.
• In anticipation of the surge in the demand for internet and call services, adequate training should be given to telecoms staff as a way of preparing them for the period.

The Federal Government has kickstarted the process of reviewing the obsolete subsidiary regulations of the Factories Act, 2004. This forms part of a four-day retreat to review the Obsolete Occupational Safety and Health Regulations held in Abuja. The Factories Act 2004 are regulations taken from Factories Inspectorate Division (FID) in 1958, which have become obsolete and irrelevant in the today’s world of work. Hence, the need to bring it up to date with international best practices and demands.

There are many reasons to review this Act. Work machines, materials, tools, processes, procedures, methods and standards have undergone various changes with advances in science and technology. Besides, emergent challenges in workplaces demands that the Factories Act which had remained the same through the years should be strengthened through its subsidiary legislations, in line with the National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health, and the provisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 187 on the Promotional Framework for the Occupational Safety and Health Convention 2006, recently approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

This review is the first towards reviewing all other obsolete subsidiary legislations under the Factories Act. Therefore, the notification of Dangerous Occurrences and regulations of 1958 and Factories Registration, Fees, among others and the Amendment Regulation, 2007, are all going to be reviewed. The aim of the review is to achieve a safe and healthy working environment, in line with the ILO agenda for decent work. It would give way to enhanced data collection and improved revenue generation, as well as reduced illnesses, diseases, injuries and deaths amongst workers in the country. The ultimately goal of the review is to improve productivity and national economic growth.