The Role of Good Governance in Driving and Promoting Sustainable Development in the Provision of Off-Grid Electricity Solutions in Nigeria

Globally there are over 1.3 billion people representing 20% of the world’s population without access to modern and affordable energyEnergy sources to meet their domestic and commercial needs the majority of whom are in the rural areas of developing or least developed countries (According to the world economic situation and prospects report (WESP) by the United Nations, majority of the low income and developing countries are within sub Saharan Africa—See Appendix I). Of this figure, 1.1 billion are without access to modern electricityElectricity supply [Modern electricity supply refers to a basic minimum threshold of modern energyEnergy services for both consumption and productive uses. Access to these modern energyEnergy services must be reliable and affordable, sustainableSustainable and where feasible, from low-GHG- emitting energyEnergy sources (IEA in World energy outlook—Methodology for energy access analysis, 2012)] (UNDP in Delivering sustainable energy in a changing climate strategy note on sustainable energy, 2016). Access to modern energyEnergy sources has been shown to have a direct correlation on the human development index (The human development index is the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country see http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-index-hdi ) and also an enabler for alleviating povertyPoverty, social progress, gender equality and environmental resilience within the rural areas of developing countriesDeveloping countries (IEA in World energy outlook—Methodology for energy access analysis, 2012; UNDP in Delivering sustainable energy in a changing climate strategy note on sustainable energy, 2016). This implies a lack of modern energyEnergy services has influenced living long and healthy lives, achieving an acceptable standard of educationEducation and knowledge as well as a decent standard of living within these countries (Chaurey and Kandpal in Renew Sustain Energy Rev 14(8):2266–2278, 2010; Nicholls et al. in valuating renewable energy policy: a review of criteria and indicators for assessment, 2014; Rao et al. in Impacts of small-scale electricity systems: a study of rural communities in India and Nepal, pp. 1–60, 2016; Sokona et al. in Energy Policy 47:3–10, 2012). The scale of this economic and environmental challenge of the countries [For example, the total budget of Energy Ministry in Nigeria for 2017 was approx. 91 million USD from a budget of approx. 21 billion USD (see http://www.budgetoffice.gov.ng/index.php/2017-approved-budget?task=document.viewdoc&id=656 ) and Ethiopia allocated 256 million USD to meeting all her SDG targets from its approx. 13 billion USD budget (see http://thereporterethiopia.com/content/budget-breakdown ) (Nigeria and Ethiopia the two largest electricity access deficit countries in sub Saharan Africa)] has thus put energyEnergy provision at the heart of international development initiatives. There has been international convergence from leading socio-political organisations in partnership with national governmentsGovernment on the reality of energyEnergy provision especially in the least developed and developing countriesDeveloping countries. Considering this, one of the most ambitious and widely accepted set of targets has been the sustainableSustainable developmentSustainable development goalsSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDGs) which were set by the world leaders and the international community during the Rio+20 summit [The United Nations Conference on SustainableSustainable DevelopmentSustainable development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20 or Earth Summit 2012 was the third international conference on sustainable developmentSustainable development aimed at reconciling the economic and environmental goals of the global community (UNSE4ALL in Global tracking framework, 2014)] in 2012. These range of targets to define what a better world will look like for all and how it can be achieved, these targets were titled the sustainable developmentSustainable development goalsSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (SDGs) and energyEnergy was identified as a fundamental pillar for this developmental path (Yumkella in Progress toward sustainable energy 2015. Global tracking framework 2015, p. 332, 2015). This correlation between energyEnergy or electricityElectricity provision and development have for more than half a century dictated development strategiesStrategy with respect to the provision and improvement of infrastructureInfrastructure, based on the presumption that this will lay the basis for a more productive economy which in turn results in economic and human development. A majority of the off-grid electrification (i.e. standalone systems that are not connected to a larger centralised grid) projects on the African continent are funded by corporate organisations. More often than not, publicly and privately funded electrification projects are left without appropriate sustainableSustainable management after the so-called “ribbon cutting” event. Good governanceGood governance (i.e. both public and corporate) is often seen as the pillar for performance and sustainable developmentSustainable development. Although it can be argued that the principles of good governance have been embraced within the developed economies, this chapter maps the attributes of the four main corporateStakeholder governance governance theoriesCorporate governance theories (stakeholderStakeholders, agency, stewardship, and resource-based) against the four World Resources Institute’s indicators of good public governancePublic governance (public participation, transparencyTransparency and information access, accountabilityAccountability, and capacity) to create an evaluative criteria for good governanceGood governance in NigeriaNigeria, within the context of decentralised electricityElectricity infrastructureInfrastructure projects. Through this, we attempt to determine if the energyEnergy sector of NigeriaNigeria have embraced the principles of good governance particularly in driving and promoting sustainableSustainable developmentSustainable development in the provision of off-grid electricityOff-grid electricity solutions in Nigeria. Our mapping exercise found key areas of alignment between the good public governancePublic governance indicators (WRI) and the different theories of corporate governance. However, we also found a large number of areas where there may be conflicts that require reconciliation for such public-private engagement to be a success. Finally, this chapter discusses the strategic importance of good governanceGood governance mechanisms in promoting sustainable developmentSustainable development within the renewable energyRenewable energy sector of NigeriaNigeria.