Nigeria’s Energy Transition Office (ETO) says it is working with public and private partners to facilitate up to $8.2 billion in financing commitments by the fourth quarter of 2023 to deepen the country’s energy transition plan.
Lolade Abiola, principal specialist, energy and climate, ETO, made this known during an event Thursday, in Lagos on Women in Energy Dialogue.
According to Abiola, the ETO’s mandate is resource mobilisation on how Nigeria can attract the financing required to implement its energy transition plan.
“So far, we have been able to facilitate approximately $8.2 billion in financing commitments. And we hope to close that by the end of this year. We are leveraging projects in-country to attract that financing,” Abiola said.
The Nigeria Energy Transition Plan (ETP) seeks to reach net-zero emissions in terms of the nation’s energy consumption by 2060, by cutting emissions across five key sectors; Power, Cooking, Oil and Gas, Transport, and Industry.
It is estimated that Nigeria requires $10 billion annually to implement the ETP by 2060 which amounts to $410 billion. An additional $1.9 trillion is required to attain the country’s net-zero targets.
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According to Abiola, we also realise that they are funds and investors that have the appetite to support clean technology and pivot to low-carbon business.
“A pipeline of projects is required to attract clean solutions and reduce emissions. We have put together an investment package which is approximately $23 billion for pipeline projects,” she said.
“Out of the $23 billion investment opportunity, approximately $17 billion is targeted at the private sector.”
Abiola further said that we need to bridge the gap between available funds and connections.
“There are a lot of market shaping interventions, along with our intentional partners we are working on to encourage participation in the ETP,” she said.
During a panel session on unlocking finance, Lanre Shasore, public policy specialist, at the Office of the Vice President, said Nigeria needs to push the right policies within the government to strengthen the country’s energy transition.
“We also need to identify the key partners to be involved in the energy transition plan. We can get funding from the private sector or multilateral via loans, and grants. It is all about making the right policy connections,” she said.
