NUC, ICT firm to deploy solar power in universities

The National Universities Commission(NUC), says it will partner with OMATEK Ventures, an Information Communication Technology(ICT) firm, to provide solar power in Nigerian universities.

NUC’s outgoing Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, disclosed this at the inauguration of the “247 Alternate Power Solution,” provided by OMATEK for the commission on Friday in Abuja.

According to Okojie, when it comes to energy provision, Nigeria is in crisis because of inadequacy of supply.We are doing this as a pilot project and we plan to replicate this for the students in our various universities.

It also acts like a UPS, when the light goes off, it works. It is the solution to major problem we have in this country and I am happy that OMATEK is keying in appropriately.

It is a challenge to us; by now we should have been doing some of these things ourselves.To address that, we are already sending some of our ICT students to OMATEK factories for computer assemblage and learning, ‘’ he said.

On her part, OMATEK’s Group Managing Director, Mrs Florence Sekiru, said that electricity available in Nigeria could never be enough for the large population.

She said that China, with a very large population, had to reduce consumption through solar power alternative.Sekiru said that the firm had provided solar solutions in many places including University of Lagos.

Setting this up in the NUC is to tell the university community that this is a big way to reduce cost by up to 50 per cent.

We deploy solar technology solutions to reduce power consumption in Nigeria by as much as 85 per cent,’’ she said.According to her, many banks have started using OMATEK solar solutions.