The Edo State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Hon. Isoken Omo, has said there is a need for proactive policies to encourage initiatives for energy efficiency in the built environment space.

She said this during a meeting with a team from the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP-Phase 2), in alliance with German Cooperation Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the European Union and other multi-sector organizations working to integrate investments for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

She said poverty, hunger, insecurity and lack of access to electricity continue to impinge on developmental efforts, adding that it was necessary to tackle these issues even as efforts are geared towards addressing energy efficiency.

The Commissioner also stressed the need for incentives, including the provision of energy-conserving bulbs and solar lights for the pilot scheme to enable new developers to make informed choices on which technologies to adopt in their building designs.

NESP Advisor, Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Edima Okodi-Iyah, said the visit was to plan modalities to partner the Ministry in the area of incorporating policies that equip buildings with energy requirements in compliance with the Federal Government National Building Energy Efficiency Code.

Okodi-Iyah stated that the programme was launched in Nigeria in 2014 with projects in five states in Nigeria, adding that Edo State was selected as part of the pilot scheme in the South-South geopolitical zone.