Tinubu inaugurates Africa’s first renewable energy college in Kogi

…..Says institution will train skilled workforce for Africa’s energy transition

President Bola Tinubu has inaugurated Africa’s first renewable energy college and a Green Hydrogen Research and Demonstration Pilot Plant in Kogi State, describing the institution as a major milestone in Nigeria’s drive to build a skilled workforce for the continent’s clean energy transition.

Vice-President Kashim Shettima commissioned the Barefoot Renewable Energy College, Osara (BARECKS), and the pilot plant on behalf of the president on Tuesday at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara.

In his address, Tinubu said the new institution would help Nigeria harness its abundant renewable energy resources by producing the technical manpower needed to drive industrial growth and energy development.

“This is the first institution of its kind on the African continent, modelled on the celebrated vocational colleges of India that turned unlettered grandmothers into solar engineers,” the president said.

“If that method could light the villages of Rajasthan, it can light the settlements of Kogi, Ondo and Cross River. Nigeria assumes, from today, the position of pacesetter in renewable energy capacity development across Africa.”

The president said Nigeria’s challenge has not been the availability of renewable energy resources but the ability to convert them into electricity and economic opportunities.

“Our continent has never suffered a deficit of intention. We have suffered the scarcity of hands trained to execute them,” he said.