Nigeria Needs $10bn Annually To Deliver Energy By 2060 – Osinbajo
Nigeria will require over $410 billion in “business-as-usual spending” to deliver on its Energy Transition Plan by 2060, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
Osinbajo made the assertion at the global launch of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan, a roadmap to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change, according to a statement on Wednesday by his media aide, Laolu Akande.
This will translate to about $10 billion per year, arguing that the average $3 billion per year of investments in renewable energy recorded for the whole of Africa between 2000 and 2020 will certainly not suffice.
He said, “We have an inter-ministerial Energy Transition Implementation Working Group, which I chair. We are 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.”
For Africa, the problem of energy poverty was as important as its climate ambitions as energy use is crucial for almost every conceivable aspect of development, explaining that Africa’s increasing energy gaps require collaboration to take ownership of the continent’s transition pathways.
“Climate change threatens crop productivity in regions that are already food insecure, and since agriculture provides the largest number of jobs, reduced crop productivity will worsen unemployment.
“It is certainly time for decisive action, and we just cannot afford to delay. African nations are rising to the challenge. All African countries have signed the Paris Agreement and some countries, South Africa, Sudan, Angola, and Nigeria have also announced net-zero targets,” he said.
The vice president noted that the current lack of power hurts livelihoods and destroys the dreams of hundreds of millions of young people, arguing that though Africa’s current unmet energy needs are huge, future demand will be even greater due to expanding populations, urbanisation, and movement into the middle class.
His words, “It is clear that the continent must address its energy constraints and would require external support and policy flexibility to deliver this. Unfortunately, in the wider responses to the climate crisis, we are not seeing careful consideration and acknowledgement of Africa’s aspirations.
“More importantly, we need to take ownership of our transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address our growth objectives. This is what Nigeria has done with our Energy Transition Plan.”
Noting that the plan is designed to tackle climate change and deliver SDG7 by 2030 and net-zero by 2060, Osinbajo said, “We anchored the plan on key objectives including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long-term job losses in the oil sector due to global decarbonisation.
“Given those objectives, the plan recognises the role natural gas must play in the short term to facilitate the establishment of baseload energy capacity and address the nation’s clean cooking deficit in the form of LPG. The plan envisions vibrant industries powered by low-carbon technologies; streets lined with electric vehicles and livelihoods enabled by sufficient and clean energy.”
The plan has the potential to create about 340,000 jobs by 2030, and 840,000 by 2060 as well as presents a unique opportunity to deliver a true low-carbon and rapid development model in Africa’s largest economy, the vice president said.
“We are currently implementing power sector initiatives and reforms focused on expanding our grid, increasing generation capacity, and deploying renewable energy to rural and underserved populations,” he added.
Nigeria Country Director for World Bank, Shubham Chaudhuri, revealed that 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.”
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