Wale Edun, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy has announced that the federal government is collaborating with the World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and other partners to mobilise up to $20 billion over five years to address Nigeria’s energy access needs.
Edun announced this at the citizens’ and stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja where he gave updates on the implementation of Presidential Priorities and ministerial deliverables.
He said government is implementing plans to significantly cut down power sector liabilities across value chain and increase investor confidence.
The plan, he said, is being implemented under mission 300 programme and will support on and off grid energy solutions to provide improved energy access to Nigerians and also facilitate regional energy exports.
Mission 300 is an initiative led by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, aiming to provide electricity access to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
This effort addresses the urgent need for energy, as nearly 600 million people in the region currently lack electricity.
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In Nigeria, some 92 million Nigerians lack access to electricity, as reported by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The programme therefore focuses on accelerating electrification through partnerships, investments in infrastructure, and promoting cleaner energy sources to drive economic growth and job creation.
A summit is being planned in January 2025 to further solidify commitments from African leaders to support this ambitious goal.
“For the energy sector, the commitment to providing Nigerians with electricity is a is a very fundamental and deep seated, that is why multiple initiatives are being tried,” Edun said.
“We are looking to encourage private sector investment, improve the efficiency of the government owned assets, the transmission and so forth, as well as to encourage, in particular, the distribution companies, who collect tariffs.
“We want to encourage them to be more efficient at reducing their losses and
uncollected amounts so they are able to pay transmission which then pays generation that even pays the providers of fuel, such as gas.
“So we are committed, and we know and we have a huge opportunity with the mission 300 African Development Bank and World Bank sponsored project to provide electricity to 300 million Africans who do not have access to electricity,” he added.
The finance minister also mentioned that the federal government targets to invest up to $20 billion annually to achieve 7 percent target growth by 2027.
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“We need significantly more growth,” Edun stated. “An additional $20 billion is the target we need for social infrastructure to facilitate logistics for agriculture.”
According to him, government will rely on increased revenue to meet this target, which justifies the ambitious tax reforms, currently facing a push-back.
“To achieve this target and grow the economy, the government can only secure the funds from revenue.
“Tax revenue needs to be increased to reach the desired levels,” he said.
Edun also emphasised that government is working to keep fiscal deficit within reasonable and sustainable limits, while ensuring a stable exchange rate to boost investor confidence.
“Once the deficit and exchange rate are under control, it will encourage investors to come and do business in Nigeria. In turn, they will pay their taxes,” he said.
He called President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda a success, citing indicators like debt service to revenue which had come down to 67 percent as at Q2, 2024 from 149 percent same period of last year; and fiscal deficit which is also down to 4.4 percent from 6.2 percent.
“Government is mindful of the current Debt-to-GDP trend at 54.5%.
“With the fiscal consolidation efforts to drive revenue and cut cost without harming the economy, the trend is envisaged to moderate,” he stated.
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