By John Egbokhan

The Centre for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has said the Federal Government would be saving close to over  $2.47 billion in fluorescent lighting phase-out by 2025.

But CLASP has said this could be made possible if Nigeria complies with United Nations convention to eliminate mercury from products and processes.

Disclosing this at the inception workshop on the ‘Minimum Energy Performance (MEPS) and Labeling for Lighting in Nigeria, Senior Manager, Climate, of the Centre, Colin Taylor, said that Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) sales to be avoided and phased-out in 2024 (cumulative, 2024-2050) would be 10,306,161 lamps.

The event was organised by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in association with Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development (SRADEV) Nigeria in Lagos,

Commenting on potential benefits of MEPS for lighting in Nigeria, Taylor said that the Linear Fluorescent Lamp (LFL) sales avoided and to be phased-out in 2025 is valued at 31,106,907 lamps, while the total mercury (kilogramme) in fluorescent lamp avoided (CFL and LFL phased out, cumulative 2024-2050) is almost 300 kilogrammes.

According to Taylor, the speedy development, improved accessibility and affordability of mercury-free Light-Emitting Diode (LED) lighting has made some mercury-containing fluorescent lighting exemption obsolete.

In his remarks, Director General of SON, Farouk Salim, said that efforts of CLASP in the areas of standards and manpower development were geared towards sustaining a clean and efficient energy compliant to the environment.

Represented by the Group Head/Head, Electrical and Electronics Laboratory, Alewu Achema, Salim said the series of meetings would provide approvable consensus document that will qualify for an MEPS on lighting. “It will be an instrument that will guide the phasing out all products identified to contain environmentally dangerous materials. It will also set the pace to accept complying products, reject and phase out all others not complying with the requirement of the standard ozone depleting materials.

“MEPS for lighting will help and play crucial roles in reducing energy consumption, as it sets the benchmark for the energy efficiency of lighting products and drive the market towards more sustainable solutions. MEPS for lighting plays a critical role in promoting energy efficiency and sustainability in the industry, and it’s directly related to mitigating the effects of climate change,” Salim added.

Market Report Case Study for Lighting in Nigeria carried out by the Executive Director, SRADEV Nigeria, Dr. Leslie Adogame, showed that CFL, which has mercury are still in high demand in the Nigerian market as 7,457,254 kg (at cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of N3, 499,419,973.00) was gotten by customs within a period of five years, while Nigerian Bureau of Statistics recorded 15,708,249.64 kg (at a customs value of N6, 753,342,394.00) within a period of six years.