The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and Vice-Chancellor of Lead City University, Ibadan, Prof. Kabiru Adeyemo, have urged the Federal Government to encourage multi-stakeholder approach to finding solutions to challenges facing Nigeria’s energy sector.
They made the call during the seventh Ifedayo Akintunde yearly lecture in Ibadan in collaboration with the university, which had the Acting Director, Renewable and Rural Power Access Department, Federal Ministry of Power, Dr Owolabi Adio, as guest lecturer. 
The demand, among several others, was part of resolutions of the NSE Oluyole branch. In a communiqué listing the resolutions, released at the end of the lecture, NSE urged the government to come up with initiatives that would provide a platform for experts.
The communiqué resolved that such an initiative would serve as an avenue for experts to share best practices, technical expertise, and policy innovations. The lecture focused on harnessing collective actions to provide national access to sustainable energy supply.
The experts listed some of the challenges facing Nigeria’s energy sector at the level of infrastructure deficiencies to include aging infrastructure, transmission and distribution losses, as well as limited grid coverage.
They also highlighted complicated electricity tariff, regulatory barriers, dependence on fossil fuels and environmental degradation, as well as resource depletion, as issues calling for urgent attention in Nigeria’s energy sector.
The experts, however, faulted the inability of successive governments in Nigeria to effectively address the various challenges facing the energy sector. In his opening remarks, Chairman of the branch, Dr Adewale Ikotun, said that the Society had been playing an active role in the development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
He said that Akintunde had made significant contributions to the development of engineering and technology at the national and global levels. Also, Adeyemo reiterated the commitment of the university’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology to academic research and development in Nigeria.
Earlier, the NSE President, Margaret Oguntala, who was represented by the Vice President, Ademola Agoro, who doubles as chairman of the lecture planning committee, said that the focus of the lecture was to solve critical engineering problems in Nigeria.
