Ability in Disability: How Engr. Adebola Anofi is Fighting Climate Change with Renewable Energy
For many physically challenged persons, disability is the end of all possibilities. But this is not the case with a Lagos State University (LASU) graduate, Adebola Anofi, who believes that there is ability in disability.
Despite his physical challenge, Anofi, who is a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), has shown that there is a lot to achieve in the face of disability.
Anofi has distinguished himself as a shining light to many disabled persons in the country. In the last nine years, he has been able to successfully run a renewable energy company, White Consult Technology Limited following the accident that confined him in a wheelchair.
His company has been able to deploy renewable energy solutions of different capacities ranging from 1kva to 60kva. And one of the landmark achievements of the company was the successive installation of 60kva power capacity for a Lagos State Government parastatal.
Anofi said: “So far, in our nine years of operation, we have different ranges from the smallest unit, which is 1kva up to 60kva. We did a 60kva for a Lagos State parastatal, and to date, it is still functional. And it is not limited to that because we can go as far as 100kva as the demand re- quires.”
Donor agencies
Despite some of his achievements, Anofi believed that his physical condition had remained an impediment to the growth and success of the company. For instance, he said that many donor agencies both local and international, approached to invest in his ideas only to see his physical dis- ability rather than the business proposal of contributing his quota in solving the energy crisis in Nigeria.
He said: “It was actually difficult pitching for funds being in a wheelchair. The people did not see the bigger picture in me, and the only thing they see is the limitations. And while you are pitching what your dream is, they are seeing 1000 reasons why it will not work. What I did during that difficult challenge was source items locally. I should mention that we were able to build inverters then and sold locally-made inverters. All items and fabrications were done in Nigeria, but because of the cost of putting these things together, we found out that our inverters were even more ex- pensive than the imported ones.
“Secondly, we discovered that an aver- age Nigerian man out there prefers imported products for his own use to what he heard that Adebola built in one company in Ejigbo. So, those were the challenges we had, and at some point, it was hindering our sales vis-a-vis our growth. Therefore, we had to drop the idea and join the wagon of importing items. But we are still hoping that sometime soon, we can actually go back to building things locally.”
But Anofi maintained that those challenges would not stop him from seeking and pitching his ideas for funds in order to reach all his target customers. “Over the last two years, we have focused more on pitching this idea, but of course, like every pitch session, we have not been lucky enough to be among the winners. But of course, we are not relenting because we just started another pitch, which we are putting together now, and we are hoping that this might just be our turn,” he said.
Accident
Narrating how he ended up in a wheel- chair, he said he had an accident after his degree education and has been confined to a wheelchair since then. “It is not from birth in fact, I had finished my university and began working in the banking sector before I had an accident. It was just an unfortunate situation that in Nigeria, we are still backwards in our healthcare system.
“That is one of the reasons why even our politicians who are supposed to fix the healthcare system are running abroad to get better healthcare. My being in a wheel- chair was a result of a neurological disorder borne out of an oversight during a medical examination from an accident I had. “And by profession, I am an engineer and a registered member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN). I also studied Electrical Engineering at Lagos State University. So, the line I’m telling now actually is my line of profession. But what really ignited my interest in alternative power was born out of my physical challenge.
“Before now, I had worked in the banking sector and information technology sec- tor and then sickness had to put things on hold. While I was bedridden recuperating from my health challenge, there was this provocative measure that was borne in me during that period. I found out that from 7 pm the whole area was in darkness and everybody was running a generator and there was too much noise and air pollution. You can hardly have a sound sleep until about 12 am when people begin to turn off their generator sets. And the men of the underworld also seized this time to begin to operate.
“There was a particular incident where- by there was a robbery incident close to my place and the security people blamed it on lack of power supply and noise from the generator sets which did not allow them to hear and then people putting on generators responded down saying that they would not stay in darkness for the security people to do their job. These got me thinking about whether this is the only way and the engineering in me was awakened at that particular point in time and I began tinkering about how to get over it. And that was what birthed my interest in alternative power supply. “I started by putting my skills into play by trying to design an inverter and then get a battery from the local market to power the inverter. And gradually the company was birthed and then the pilot phase started. We thank God that we are here now.”
In the face of his disability, Anofi has advised other physically challenged Nigerians to look beyond their appearances and invest in their development. He said: “When one is physically challenged, the first thing one should do is recognise their challenge. After recognising your challenge, you need to make sure you build a system around your challenge. These I have been able to do, and I also try to give back to other people who are physically challenged and attend our orientation programmes.
“When you build a system around this challenge, it helps you to deliver your du- ties totally. What I have done is that I understand that what is most needed is the brain and I’m the brains behind the organisation. My job is just to take the lead and put them right in the way they should be and our service delivery has been 100 per cent.”
Renewable energy
Anofi regretted that the renewable energy sector is still under-patronised despite the epileptic power supply in the country. “The renewable energy industry in Nigeria is yet to receive the necessary level of acceptability. This is because of government policy and the level of education of people. Except maybe in micro areas like rechargeable lamps, torchlights, radios and so on.
“But recently with the assent of President Muhammadu Buhari to remove electricity generation and distribution from the Exclusive List, we want to see state and local governments adopt renewable energy as a means to substantially improve our energy generation and distribution. “But in White Consult Technology Limited, our acceptability has been majorly our after-sales support because we are one of the few companies in Nigeria that offers 24-hour after-sales support. When I say 24 hours support, we are trying to assist our customers through the physical and on- line. We boost our customers, which they can also attest to that we are available even at 2 am. “And why is it important to offer after- sales support? I think that is one thing that we have discussed severally at orientation programs and also at stakeholders’ meetings. If you look at the electricity companies, mostly the distribution and transmission companies, if today in an area there is a transformer issue or there is a spark, if it happens to be on a weekend, they are on their own.
“If that happens to be a public holiday, take for instance, we just had a public holiday from Friday to Monday, if there was rainfall and there was a power situation as a result, in between those four days, some areas would have been kept in the dark because our distribution companies do not offer 24 hours service. Worst still, at 4 pm, dial their customer service number, it is switched off.”
Notwithstanding the physical disability, the experience of Engineer Anofi has shown that if support and resources are provided for people like him with an exceptional desire to make an impact on the growth of the economy, the sky will be their starting point.
