Abuja, Nigeria
The Electricity Hub (TEH) convened the 121st Power Dialogue to accelerate youth leadership and innovation in Nigeria’s energy transition. Experts called for young Nigerians to move beyond participating in energy sector programmes to taking active roles in shaping policies, developing projects, building businesses, and driving innovation across Nigeria’s energy transition.
Themed “Powering the Next Generation: Youth, Innovation and Nigeria’s Energy Transition,” the dialogue examined emerging opportunities for young people across power, renewable energy, clean cooking, e-mobility, energy efficiency, and other areas of the evolving energy sector.
The session featured Busayo Omofe-Sunday, Sustainable Energy Programme Officer at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria; Johnwhite Elijah, Founder and CEO of Niveo Technology Limited; and Shalom Karunwi, Research, Policy, and Data Analyst at Nextier. Folayimika Molade Tobiloba, Assistant Manager, Corporate Communications and External Relations at Genesis Energy Group, moderated the discussion.
Skills Gap Remains a Major Challenge
Busayo Omofe-Sunday highlighted the gap between the skills emerging energy industries require and the practical capabilities available to young people.
She stressed the need for stronger collaboration among government, educational institutions, and industry to redesign curricula and provide practical exposure in areas such as renewable energy, battery storage, e-mobility, digital energy services, clean cooking, and energy efficiency.
Shalom Karunwi mentioned that for any projected opportunities to be turned into real jobs and viable businesses for youths, the commercial dynamics need to be rectified, proper risk management needs to be integrated into systems, and the payment structure from generation to distribution needs to be improved to create a proper enabling environment for easy integration.
The discussion also emphasised the importance of internships, apprenticeships, mentorship, investment in research and development, skill-gap analysis, industry-led training and hands-on experience in preparing young people for emerging energy careers.
Financing Must Go Beyond Grants
Access to finance emerged as another major barrier to youth-led energy innovation.
The dialogue examined the need for financing models that can support businesses at different stages, from innovation and prototyping to commercialisation and scale. Suggested mechanisms included innovation funds, grants, blended financing, equity, federal government financing instruments (i.e., bonds), concessional and patient capital, venture financing, and private sector partnerships.
Omofe-Sunday emphasised the need to separate “financing institutions” from “financing innovation”, and to determine how funds should be distributed across the value chain to ensure key flagship projects receive the attention they deserve. She also stressed the need to embrace debt as a key driver for bootstrapping market-ready projects.
Folayimika Molade further emphasised the need for lower-level partnerships, especially for youth seeking to thrive in the energy transition. The panellists also stressed that young entrepreneurs must develop market-ready solutions and understand the financing model that best fits their businesses rather than relying solely on grants.
Youth Participation Must Become More Meaningful
The discussion called for young people to play a key role in Nigeria’s energy transition, beyond conferences, consultations, and representation.
The Panellists highlighted that opportunities for youth to contribute to energy policy, project development, procurement, investment, and implementation exist, but youth must demonstrate readiness, grit, hands-on involvement, and resilience. They also stressed the importance of mentorship, institutional access, knowledge transfer, and stronger connections among young professionals, industry, government, and development partners.
The panellists further identified skills, capital, participation and ownership as important pillars for meaningful youth engagement in the energy transition.
Universities Have a Critical Role
The dialogue also underscored the role of universities, polytechnics and technical institutions in preparing young Nigerians for future energy opportunities.
Karunwi and Omofe-Sunday called for stronger links between academic institutions and industry, more practical learning, research and development, technical training and opportunities for students to work on real-world energy challenges. In addition, Johnwhite Elijah, reiterated the need for robust practicals and hands-on experience to be included in the university’s curriculum, drawing from his experiences at the University of Abuja, where his company, Niveo Technology launched electric tricycles for on-campus transportation.
The experts noted that educational institutions can also provide platforms for young people to develop and test solutions while gaining the experience required to enter the energy market.
Building an Inclusive Energy Future
The 121st Power Dialogue concluded with a call for stronger partnerships among government, educational institutions, industry, financiers, development partners and young people.
The panellists stressed that Nigeria’s energy transition will require not only new technologies and investment but also a skilled and innovative workforce capable of developing, implementing, and scaling solutions.
The dialogue ultimately called for a shift from viewing young Nigerians primarily as beneficiaries of the energy transition to recognising them as active builders, entrepreneurs, professionals, innovators, and owners of solutions that shape Nigeria’s energy future.
The 121st Power Dialogue focused on the role of young people in Nigeria’s energy transition, examining opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship, and innovation, as well as the skills, financing, policies, and institutional mechanisms required to enable meaningful youth participation.