Policy coherence to enable effective energy strategies and promote sustainable development: toward developing an integrated simulation model for Nigeria

The SDGs were promoted as a set of “integrated and indivisible” goals based its inclusion of the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Since coming into force, there has being continuous effort towards establishing the inter-linkages between the goals and targets. In this context, energy sector has been widely acknowledged as pivotal to achieve the SDGs. As a contribution towards the integration of the SDGs and to demonstrate the enabling role of energy access within the SDG framework, we built on the system dynamics-based simplified integrated Sustainable Development Goals (iSDG) model to facilitate the formulation, analysis and critical evaluation of various energy policies and plausible impact on sustainable development in Nigeria. The model is still work in progress, but it is expected to facilitate the formulation of appropriate energy policies, resource allocation of energy intervention funds, and budgetary allocations in determining optimum energy mix and high leverage complementary actions that can promote the effectiveness of energy access programmes and strategies.