BY LORETTA B MANELE

The availability of energy in education and health has an impact especially on those who can only use it when it’s available.

Robert Luke Iroga, a prominent journalist and CEO of Solomon Islands Business Magazine shed light on this whilst speaking from a panel on UNDP and Ministry of Mines Panel Discussion on “Pathways towards better electric power availability, affordability, and sustainability” on Friday, November 14, 2025 at Heritage Park Hotel.

He shared briefly of how as a student back then, using energy was only possible at a certain time and for him and his colleagues at the time, it was only until 10pm.

Iroga said at school, by 10pm, the power would go out and that meant it was the time the generator would be turned off.

“So, after 10 o’clock, you have to use candles,” he said.

Iroga voiced that this experience was like limiting your ability to get extra knowledge and it was because of personal power.

He mentioned that a few years ago, he went back to the school and they still have this problem.

“10 o’clock, power off. There’s nothing more. So, you are constrained by something that others enjoy as part of their life.

“You can’t have computers connected to the school. You can’t have laptops. You don’t have internet, which also uses power,” he stressed.

Iroga went on to speak about energy in the health sector.

He voiced that when you have electricity in the rural areas, in the clinics or in the hospitals, doctors can give instructions for operations in the villages.

“And that’s the power. Once you have everybody connected to the grid, or have some access to energy.

“This happens in India. In India, a lot of the doctors are based in Delhi, but they give instructions to clinics or hospitals in the rural areas,” he said.

Iroga noted that from the perspective of a journalist, these are very good stories that as he puts it “we can actually articulate and go to another level” on.

For feedback, contact: [email protected]