The Sardauna Local Government Area is a remote place in the extreme southeast of Taraba State in Nigeria. Sitting atop the vast Mambilla plateau which borders the Republic of Cameroon, it is a two-day drive away from the capital Abuja.

In 2001 and 2002, poverty, unemployment and disputes over land and mineral deposits led to a series of clashes between the different ethnicities and forced some 38,000 Nigerians to flee to Cameroon.

Between 2004 and 2005, facilitated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), most of the them returned to Taraba State. But in order to prevent a recurrence of ethnic conflicts and create an enabling environment for communities, UNHCR Nigeria, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and several other UN agencies lunched a joint programme.

As part of this programme, UNIDO initiated a project to install a small hydro power plant at the Tunga Dam in Sardauna, aiming to provide clean and renewable energy to the vicinal communities including Kakara, Kusuku, Galadima, Nguroje and Furmi.

With a population of about 50,000, the area’s main economic stay was the Mambilla Beverages company that produces Highland Tea in Kakara and its tea plantation consisting of 6,000 farms. But as the only industry in the area, the tea factory could only employ 350 to 500 workers, so unemployment remained a major problem in the area. The adult men and women engaged in primitive farming and husbandry, and a lack of power supply meant no new businesses or industries could be established. Running on diesel generators and wood fuelled boilers for drying, the tea factory was economically drained by the energy costs involved.

“In order to revive existing economic activities and create additional income generating opportunities for local communities, it was necessary to focus on providing reliable and cost-effective electricity for the area,” says Patrick Kormawa, UNIDO Representative to Nigeria.

He explains that in 2013, with the support of the Government of Taraba State and funding from UNHCR, the International Centre for Small Hydro Power (IC-SHP) in China and UNIDO supplied and installed electro-mechanical equipment. Now, the small hydro-power plant has an operating capacity of 400kW. It is owned by Taraba State and managed by the Mambilla Beverages company, supplying clean electricity to the factory and local communities.

This allowed the tea factory to look at plans to expand its production capacity, a move that is expected to provide more employment opportunities in the area. Moreover, the plant has had a profound environmental impact in the area, leading to a drastic cut in greenhouse gas emissions as the tea factory no longer uses diesel generators. A large amount of trees have also been saved since clean power replaced the burning of wood to dry the tea.

“The project provided clean and sustainable energy to communities that until recently didn’t have access to electricity. It facilitated local economic activities and provided new jobs, and is now helping communities set up small-scale businesses such as milk and meat processing,” says Jossy Thomas, UNIDO Industrial Development Officer who oversees the project.

“Increased electricity generation will assist in promoting a sustainable business environment for investment and commercial activities in communities, and ultimately improve the local economy.”

The project has had a positive impact on some 6,000 families that solely depend on the tea factory for a living, and proved to be a good example of inter-agency cooperation between UNIDO and UNHCR.

Written by ZHONG Xingfei
Posted September 2014

For more information, please contact:

Patrick Kormawa
UNIDO Representative
Abuja, Nigeria
email

Jossy Thomas
UNIDO Industrial Development Officer
email