Why has each Nigerian state governor not instituted a faeces-to-power programme as a means of generating local electricity?

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Nigeria is the open defecation capital of the world, as one in four citizens, representing about 47m people across the country relieve themselves out in the open according to the World Health Organisation

(2) Nigeria needs about$2.7bn to end open defecation by 2025. Of that, the government is expected to provide around 25%. I say turn this into an electricity investment programme

(3) With so much money expected to be pumped into the challenge, the Nigerian federal government is encouraging the emergence of a toilet business ecosystem, which includes innovative toilet designers, financiers to provide loans and other financial tools to households, community organisations and more. What I want to see is the sewage systems in every state linked to a power plant that generates electricity

(4) Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, have found a new way to convert human waste into renewable energy sources. Under their novel plan, once the grinding system inside the toilet converts feaces into a dry, odorless material, it will be transferred to a digestion tank, containing thousands of different microbes. The microbes inside the tank will, then, biodegrade the powdered human manure to generate carbon dioxide and methane. Using high pressure and membrane, carbon dioxide is extracted to culture green algae for biofuel while methane is stored for later use as a heating fuel

(5) In the US state of Colorado, the Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant is processing 8m gallons of the city of Grand Junction’s human waste into renewable natural gas, also known as biomethane

(6) According to the United Nations, biogas from human waste can provide electricity for 138m households. This represents the total number of households in Brazil, Indonesia and Ethiopia combined

(7) Also, a report from the UN Canada-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, estimates that biogas potentially available from human waste worldwide would have a value of up to $9.5bn in natural gas equivalent

(8) If the waste of only those practicing open defecation worldwide was targeted, the financial value of biogas potentially generated exceeds $200m per year and could reach as high as $376m. According to the UN, the energy value would equal that of the fuel needed to generate electricity for 10m to 18m local households. Processing the residual faecal sludge would yield the equivalent of 4.8m to 8.5m tonnes of charcoal to help power industrial furnaces, for example

(9) In the US, more than half of the 15trn gallons of sewage Americans flush annually is processed into sludge that gets spread on farmland, lawns, and home vegetable gardens. They are successfully converting it into fertiliser

(10) In Nigeria today, Lagos and Abia states are the filthiest, with Lagos metropolis and Aba leading the way with refuse dumping and open defecation. These two states should lead the way by building public toilets with pipes that lead straight to a power generating plant. They should then build a similar facility for refuse and plastics