Nigeria: Danjawa - a Village Wrapped in City's Attire

BY RAKIYA A. MUHAMMAD, 1 DECEMBER 2012

Sokoto — The commissioning of an integrated renewable energy system in Danjawa village in Wamakko local government area of Sokoto State is putting the rural community in the trappings of a city.

Danjawa village in Wamakko local government area of Sokoto State is a typical Northern Nigeria rural community. The villagers depend solely on firewood for their domestic energy needs, because they are not connected to the national grid.

Well, all that may change soon as the village made history with the commissioning of the first integrated renewable energy system in the area last week. It was designed to integrate major renewable energy technologies to provide energy needs of the rural area.

The project, which costs N22.7million, is to provide a 10-kilowatt solar photovoltaic power system and four kilometer wind electricity turbine for the energy needs of the village. It will also cater for village's hot water requirement through the provision of solar water heater as well as a biogas plant for the cooking requirement of some selected households.

Many inhabitants of the village told Weekly Trust that with the new project, it was like moving from obscurity to limelight.

Danjawa, hitherto a sleepy community about five kilomtres from the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, now enjoys about 12 hours of power supply as claimed by the villagers.

According to Aliyu Danjawa, one of the villagers, the community gets electricity from 7pm till dawn. The people also expressed happiness with the choice of their village as the Sokoto Energy Research Centre's model village for the integrated renewable energy system. "It is heartening and has already started impacting on our lives positively," one of them added

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