World Bank, US Exim bank pledge $3bn to Nigeria’s energy transition plan

THE World Bank and the US Export-Import Bank (EximBank) have pledged over $3 billion to the implementation of Nigeria’s energy transition plan. 

The international organisations made the commitment on Wednesday at the official global launching of the Energy Transition Plan by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. 

Shubham Chaudhuri, Nigeria Country Director, World Bank, said the international bank planned to commit over $1.5 billion towards the country’s energy transition plan. 

“We plan to commit over $1.5 billion towards the Energy Transition Plan on renewable energy, on power sector reforms, and potentially hydropower, on clean cooking, and wherever opportunities arise,” he said. 

“The policy and institutional reforms that will be necessary are also part of the agenda and we hope to be able to provide support for the fundamentally imperative of energy access but in a way that is consistent with the energy transition, what I think of as the NEAT imperative. 

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“The Nigerian Energy Access and Transition (NEAT) imperative is what we here at the World Bank are absolutely committed to supporting.” 

On his part, Adam Cortese, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sun Africa, a renewable energy solutions company, said it was in the final stage of talks with the US EXIM Bank on a $1.5 billion financing package. 

“The launch of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan has further accelerated our efforts, proving Nigeria to be fertile grounds for investments in the sector. We are in the final stages of discussion with US EXIM Bank on a $1.5 billion financing package,” Adam said. 

“We are truly excited about the future and we are looking forward to helping Nigeria lead by way of example in Africa.” 

Speaking at the official unveiling of the transition plan, Osinbajo said Nigeria’s energy transition requires a significant scale of resources which includes spending $410 billion by 2060. 

According to him, “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. 

“Nigeria would need to spend 410 billion dollars above business-as-usual spending to deliver our transition plan by 2060, which translates to about 10 billion dollars per year. 

“The average $3 billion dollars per year investments in renewable energy recorded for the whole of Africa between 2000 and 2020 will certainly not suffice.” 

He added that Nigeria has set up an interministerial energy transition implementation working group and is “currently engaging with partners to secure an initial $10 billion support package ahead of COP27.” 

At COP26 in Glasgow last year, President Muhammadu Buhari announced Nigeria’s ambition to achieve net-zero by 2060 drawing on insights from the country’s Energy Transition Plan which was developed through the Energy Transition Commission to chart out Nigeria’s unique energy transition pathway.