Nigeria’s vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Africa’s increasing energy gaps require collaboration to take ownership of the continent’s transition pathways and the action should be decisive and urgent.
Osinbajo stated this in his address delivered at the global virtual launch of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, a roadmap to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change.
The Vice President said “for Africa, the problem of energy poverty is as important as climate ambitions. Energy use is crucial for almost every conceivable aspect of development. Wealth, health, nutrition, water, infrastructure, education, and life expectancy are significantly related to the consumption of energy per capita.”
He highlighted the significant scale of resources required to attain both development and climate ambitions. Nigeria would need to spend $410 billion above business-as-usual spending to deliver our Transition Plan by 2060, which translates to about $10 billion per year.
The Vice President noted that Nigeria is currently engaging with partners to secure an initial $10 billion support package ahead of COP27 along the lines of the South African Just Energy Transition Partnership announced at COP26 in Glasgow.”
At the virtual event, Shubham Chaudhuri, Nigeria Country Director for World Bank said the bank plans “to commit over USD 1.5 billion towards the Energy Transition Plan on renewable energy, on power sector reforms, on clean cooking, and wherever opportunities arise.”
Osinbajo further noted that the aim is to develop Energy Transition Plan to engage with the rest of the world in a serious, thorough and data-backed manner, and there is a clear need for African nations to engage more critically and vocally in conversations on global climate future.
Aside from the transition plan, the Vice President announced the launch of the Universal Energy Facility, an innovative, results-based, finance programme that focuses specifically on scaling up electricity access for productive uses.
He explained that the Universal Energy Facility will provide grant payments to enable solar companies to expand their operations to small and medium-sized enterprises across Nigeria, while crowding-in additional private capital.
Editor : Ena Agbanoma
