REEEA-A: Communities must be understood before Energy Transition stories can be told –Olumide Idowu
At the ongoing 2025 International Conference of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Association Alliance (REEEA-A), Founder of the International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI), Mr. Olumide Idowu, emphasized that Nigeria’s energy transition story must be rooted in community realities and human needs rather than abstract policies.
Speaking during Panel Discussion V: Communicating Transition – Media and Public Engagement, Idowu stressed that genuine communication about renewable energy must begin with understanding the terrain and the people it is meant to serve.
“Before we tell the story of energy transition, we must first understand the process ourselves. And when we tell it from the community angle, we must also recognize that people are educated in their own way. The real issue is that they lack the opportunities to leverage that knowledge,” he said.
Using Makoko, a waterfront community in Lagos, as an example, Idowu noted that skepticism and fatigue often make residents reluctant to engage with new initiatives, even when they understand their value. Years of unmet promises, he explained, leave communities wary of outsiders.
“If you want to communicate about renewable energy projects in Makoko, for instance, people may be reluctant to listen, not because they don’t understand, but because they have seen many visitors come and go. Sometimes, their immediate concerns are shelter, food, and security, not electricity. If you ignore that, you will miss the real story,” Idowu said.
He urged practitioners and the media to spend time within communities before attempting to shape narratives. According to him, a few weeks or months of genuine engagement would reveal the underlying needs that renewable energy projects should address.
Idowu also cautioned against tokenism interventions, likening them to one-day environmental cleanups with no follow-up.
“I told young people recently: after you do a cleanup, what happens the next day? Sustainability is what matters. The same applies to renewable energy, if the intervention does not align with people’s daily struggles, it won’t last,” he said.
He concluded that the success of Nigeria’s energy transition depends not only on investment or technology but on telling stories that capture the human struggles at the heart of communities.
