In the first two months of 2018, the Nigerian Customs Services (NCS) imposed between 5% and 10% import duties on solar panels. Never mind contravening a law that originally stipulates zero percent import duties on these same solar panels, this new development threatens the establishment of a major power alternative in Nigeria.

In all this storm, an unconfirmed report fingered a man as the brain behind this new tariff; Suleiman Yusuf, founder and CEO of Kaduna-based Blue Camel Energy was said to have had a hand in the manipulative move just as the firm inaugurated its Blue Camel Renewable Solar Power Assembly Plant and Renewable Energy Training Academy in Kaduna. However, in a recent interview with Techpoint, a leading online publication on the Nigerian technology and start-up scene, he debunked the claim vehemently.

He said; “I really do not have the power to single-handedly do that kind of thing. The government recently increased the import duties on these solar panels by up to 20% and I was surprised and affected as everybody else. They claimed it was to increase local patronage and production but that is a lie. How many solar assemblies and production plants are in Nigeria? They are not enough for this excuse to hold any water, I am most certain that for them this is another mindless revenue generation drive.”