Senior Energy manager for Africa and Emerging markets- solar energy design and proliferation; Okeowo Olasubomi who also doubles as the Chief Executive officer of Solarcitygas Africa has issued a word of serious warning and advice to the government of Nigeria on the urgent sales, distribution and proliferation of substandard and adulterated solar panels and related gadgets coming into the country almost unchecked.
Okeowo who made this known to news men at the Canton fair 2023 said the people in charge of regulatory and standards in the industry may be understaffed or they lack the right tools and technical know how required to check grade B items. Some solar panels in the Nigerian market today have been used and discarded by donor countries.
They are brought into Nigeria, carefully cleaned and sold to unsuspecting customers who don’t know much or who are looking to save costs . Okeowo also said the life span of these items of course have been shortened in the initial usage and in no time they will begin malfunctioning and discharging inappropriate energy.
The unsuspecting customer have been ripped off. Speaking with news men, he went on to emphasise that grade B inverters, batteries and controllers will damage the earth and destroy the eco balance of Nigeria sooner or later. Okeowo said the agencies in charge of standardisation in Nigeria needs to up their game and should equally protect the citizens by all means.
We have had several people complain about their house burning due to surge into the inverter they thought was new. We have seen low quality street lights pouring into Nigeria and being sold to customers unabridged. This practices needs to stop now. We have also seen SON stickers coming already pasted on products directly from China into Nigerian Market.
These are sharp practices that needs to stop. The country Nigeria is already broke and the citizens are going through hard times one way or the other. It is practices like this that ensure poverty stays in the country.
The manufacturers of bad products keep getting richer in their country; while we help ourselves stay under the poverty line. Okeowo concluded that products without FCC and CE certificates should not be sold in Nigerian solar markets.
Once the government can ensure this certification are demanded, the customs at ports of entry will have a lot of containers of hazardous materials impounded or returned to countries of sail. Okeowo also admonished countries abroad to stop.selling used panels to Africa, Most especially Canada.
