Solar industry practitioners are set to complete the incorporation of Solar Industry Association of Nigeria (SIAN), an association that will have as members, practitioners in the solar energy industry in Nigeria.
The incorporation which is progressing towards completion by the stakeholders will draw membership from practitioners in solar energy infrastructure, policy formulation, advocacy and finance. BusinessDay gathers that a board of trustee has been instituted and the incorporation documents have been signed and handed over to the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Segun Adaju, Lead Consultant, BlueOcean Nigeria tells BusinessDay the reason for the formation of the association: “There is a need for stakeholders to come together as one body to articulate their issues properly and have a coordinated platform to discuss matters regarding solar energy in Nigeria.”
BuisnessDay checks revealed that Nigeria has a Solar Energy Society of Nigeria (SESN) established since 1980 with the aim of providing a medium for national and international dissemination of solar energy in particular and other energy sources in general and their applications elsewhere.
It also aims to provide a focal point for publication but not limited to papers presented at annual conferences of the group.
While this association is more academic judging by its membership of mostly personalities from the academia, Adaju noted that the new association being incorporated has the industry as its focus.
“We were strategic about the use of the world industry; industry is used to refer to every individual or business that is engaged in commercial enterprise. So it can be a solar energy company, an individual who is an engineer, it can be a consultant, an engineer and even financial institutions.
“We are getting financial institutions to get involved in the commercial enterprise of solar, so it is opened to every stakeholder and interested party.
“It is going to be driven by business. We are going to have many areas but the core areas will be policy, advocacy, and finance.”
He further said that at some stage, the association will progress to a level where a certification process for members will become mandatory.
The stakeholders also plan to register with various agencies like governments, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and others so they can be the reference point when solar energy is discussed.
“The membership will have laws and guidelines regulating the conduct of members so it will be possible to delist members whose actions goes against the practice of the association,” Adaju says.
ISAAC ANYAOGU
