The heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) sector in Nigeria could grow by $5.6 billion, according to projections made at the first West Africa Infrastructure Expo and HVAC-R Nigeria in Lagos. The three-day event, held at the Landmark Centre in Victoria Island, brought together engineers, policymakers, and private sector players to discuss opportunities and challenges in the industry. Nigeria currently accounts for 60% of all HVACR imports in West Africa, a figure cited by Olumide Adebowale, convener of the expo, during his opening remarks. He noted that despite high demand, local manufacturing remains minimal, with over 90% of equipment imported. Panelists highlighted weak power supply, lack of skilled technicians, and limited access to financing as key barriers to sector growth. The expo featured live demonstrations, technical sessions, and exhibitions from regional and international firms aiming to expand in the West African market.
Olumide Adebowale's revelation that Nigeria dominates 60% of West Africa's HVACR imports exposes a market shaped more by consumption than capability. The country's reliance on imported cooling systems, with over 90% sourced from abroad, underscores a chronic failure to build domestic industrial capacity despite decades of rising demand. This is not a supply chain gap but a structural neglect of technical manufacturing in national planning.
The event's focus on infrastructure deficits rings hollow when the same power instability it cites as a barrier also cripples the very systems being promoted. Air conditioning units may cool offices, but they deepen energy strain in a country where less than half the population has reliable grid access. The HVACR boom is less about climate adaptation and more about serving an elite economy that prioritises comfort over systemic resilience.
Ordinary Nigerians feel this in higher electricity costs, urban heat inequality, and job markets skewed toward servicing imported technology instead of building local expertise. Middle-class homes and businesses bear the cost of inefficient systems running on diesel backups, while technical graduates struggle to find training in applied engineering.
This mirrors a broader national pattern: importing solutions to problems that could be locally solved, turning every sector into a foreign sales opportunity rather than a development lever.
