Africa’s most populous country needs at least an additional $10 billion a year and a total $410 billion to deliver on its net-zero targets by 2060, Nigeria has already secured a $1.5 billion pledge from the World Bank and is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for an additional $1.5 billion. Nigeria’s energy transition plan is designed to lift 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, drive economic growth, bring modern energy services to the people, and manage the expected long-term job losses in the oil sector due to global decarbonization.

 

The strategy aims to generate 340,000 work opportunities by 2030 and 840,000 by 2060. The energy sector of Nigeria continues to expand, increasing its contribution to the nation’s socio-economic development. Even before the launch of this plan, significant stakeholders in the sector predicted that Nigeria is well positioned to gain from the energy transition regime due to the abundance of natural fossil fuels and renewable solar energy available in the country. To deliver, Nigeria is relying on gas as a transition fuel. It expects to significantly increase gas consumption during “the decade of gas” declared by president Muhammadu Buhari.

 

The intentional expansion of the off-grid power and renewables industry, utilizing foreign financial

support and technology transfer, is another path that could be pursued if the country wishes to have a successful energy transformation.Nigerians able to afford it have been relying on polluting diesel and petrol generators as backup to frequent power outages – something the government wants to end by 2050 by massively expanding solar generation capacity. By 2060, it would replace all polluting cookstoves with electric or biogas ones and electrify 100% of passenger vehicles.

 

Gas consumption is set to double in the power sector in the 2020s and significantly increase in the cooking and industrial sectors before nearly phasing out by 2050. Oil and gas refining capacity will massively expand. Shifting to cleaner energy sources would overall create more jobs: 340,000 by 2030 and up to 840,000 by 2050, largely in the power, transport, and cooking sector.

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“For Africa, the problem of energy poverty is as important as our climate ambition. The current lack of power hurts livelihoods and destroys the dreams of hundreds of millions of young people,” said vice president Osinbajo.