The Chief Executive Officer/Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy, Damilola Ogunbiyi and World Bank President Ajay Banga, yesterday met with Nigerian private sector leaders in Abuja, as part of the strategy to mobilize finance for African countries’ energy, climate and development goals.
The Abuja visit, which is Banga’s first as World Bank President, is said to be a clear step toward realizing the mandate of the World Bank’s new Private Sector Investment Lab.
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The establishment of the Lab was announced only in June to identify and focus on specific approaches that can be implemented and scaled by the Bank for the purpose of mobilizing capital more effectively and especially private finance.
Banga chairs the Lab while Ogunbiyi is a founding member. Ogunbiyi said renewable energy solutions ”hold the key to a sustainable future.”
The World Bank, through Ajay Banga’s leadership,she added, “is focused on scaling transition finance in renewable energy and infrastructure in the Global South while addressing the barriers preventing private sector investment in emerging markets.”
She spoke of the determination of the Sustainable Energy for All initiative to ” provide expertise and support towards catalyzing private capital to close energy access gaps and achieve a clean energy transition.”
Ogunbiyi noted that as Nigeria, like many other nations in the world, embarks on a critical energy transition journey to tackle the pressing challenges of energy poverty and climate change, it has become imperative to highlight the broad spectrum of investment opportunities in renewable energy solutions in the country, and that the private sector can help drive innovation, accelerate infrastructure development, and promote the adoption of renewable energy solutions in Nigeria.
The meeting discussed the catalytic role the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan (ETP) which was launched a year ago has played in attracting private sector investment to energy and infrastructure projects in the country.
A dedicated Energy Transition Office supported by Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) has been established to drive the plan’s activation and has secured a substantial investment pipeline of $3.8 billion dedicated to Nigeria’s energy transition initiatives.
The initiative, so far, had engaged with over 200 local and international partners, providing technical assistance to the Nigerian government with regards to electric vehicles (EVs) and solarization among other projects.
Accompanied by Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, Managing Director of the Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Banga, Ogunbiyi and investors also visited innovative clean energy projects near the city of Abuja to showcase progress made and the high chance of replicating these achievements across the country.