‘Investment in coal will fetch Nigeria billions in revenue’
Mr Emmanuel Nwankwo is the chairman, community right to know and an industrialist. In this interview, he explains how Nigeria will benefit if it returns to investing in coal brackets.
Nigeria once invested in coal but when the issue of oil came up, the coal sector was neglected. Why do you think Nigeria should go back to coal?
Before the discovery of oil and gas, Nigeria thrived on coal. We ran our industries on coal starting from the kalangri cement to rail roads to major factories including breweries. When oil came, people got lazy and everybody went into oil which made the economy suffer eventually. Now the common man found out that they couldn’t even afford kerosene they normally buy then they resorted to cutting down trees to make firewood and charcoal out of it. Now there is a need to go back to revive the coal industry. America knows that the only way to go now is the resuscitation of the coal industry so that the economy will be back to where it used to be. The infrastructure in America, the bridges, the roads, the industries that are falling apart are would be revived through going back to coal. In as much as the oil is there, it cannot handle the infrastructural development which will move the economy forward. We really need to go back to the basics which are the use of coal and it is something that is in abundance in Nigeria especially in Enugu State. Nigerians should ask themselves if Nigeria is now better off with the oil and gas without coal. No! We are not. There are millions of Nigerians displaced who were working in the coal system from the upstream to the downstream, they were all disconnected out of job. So we would find a way to revive the coal industry to bring back jobs and hope to the system. Nigeria will make about 56 billion naira from coal brackets in three years.
Are you trying to key into the present government to diversify the economy or is it a personal thing?
The thing is that various experts all over the world even the United States amongst all other countries are all going back to coal. The reason is this; this is a frail train going now that diversification of coal into other areas will move the economy, why don’t we join? Nigerians have to be a part of it especially now that America is looking into all the facilities and technological know-how which they are using to make sure that the use of coal is no longer the way it was before when people were saying that sulphur was polluting the environment, it is now totally repackaged, redefined and a brand new analysis of how to use more cleaner coal that will erode all those negatives they had before. It’s a brand technology, innovation to use coal for domestic, household, industrial as well as institutional use consumption. We use this coal brackets and the biggest advantage is that it will stop people from falling down trees. People will no longer need to cut down trees and it will restore our forestation. This will also make us encourage people to plant trees. We will make people plant two trees for cutting down one. When our parents, the elderly, the poor in various communities as well as men and women and youths know that they will not be disconnected from selling their firewood or their charcoal, rather they will be offered something that is better than the firewood and charcoal to continue their trade. They will be supplied with the brackets and the stove in place of the firewood and charcoal to enable them continue their business which will be more rewarding.
So what are the products derived from coal?
The reason we need to go back to coal is because of the new innovations, new creativity, new researches that has been done on coal. It has been shown that regular coal can be turned into domestic use by undergoing some processes. When you bring out the coal, especially now that Nigeria is blessed with high quality coal especially in Kogi State with less sulphur, so it makes it easier and it is in abundance. Also, the mechanism of extraction is a lot cheaper than oil or gas. When the coal is extracted, it is turned into coal fine granules which can be compacted to optimum density. There is no moisture. It is hardened and bonding is guaranteed, then it is left for two or three days to dry up. After drying up, they can then be packaged. In America, they are packaged in different sizes and the same thing can be applied anywhere in Nigeria, not just Nigeria but anywhere in Africa and the world. It will give the country hope; it will energize the economy, massive employment and creation of wealth.
Are you making any effort to take your campaign to grassroots?
What we are doing is that expert environmentalists, geologists from Washington, California and from Nigeria all gathered together and said we are going to advise the governments to give enabling environments to investors, miners to go into coal brackets. Once this coal brackets are produced in mass quantity there will be nothing like hoarding like kerosene nor gas nor fuel. It is a product that is abundant here and produced abundantly with efficient burning, we have to now drive it down to the ultimate users and that is where my organisation comes in. We are to drive it down to the community where it is needed. We also have an urban poor where 60 percent of Nigerians use charcoal and firewood but someone has to connect them and reassure them that this thing is good for them and will not disconnect them from their businesses but only change the pattern which is for the better. It will also help to stop total desert encroachment. Look at what is happening now such as the hurricane in America, even the disaster in Florida, Texas and other countries that have been suffering one disaster or the other all suffer because of the depletion of the forest and the soil, this has made every country reconsider the reintroduction of brackets.
Sir, what do you think of the affordability compared to firewood and charcoal?
It’s actually affordable that is why the original merchants and dealers as well as local sellers will still remain where they are because they can afford to buy it and sell it then make a little more money than they were making before.