- Nigeria has unveiled its energy transition plan.
The federal government has launched Nigeria’s energy transition plan as a significant path to achieving universal energy access by 2030 and a carbon-neutral economy by 2060. At the global launch, which was held on Wednesday, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo noted that the plan was designed to tackle energy poverty and climate change crisis and deliver sustainable development goal seven (SDG7) by 2030 and net zero by 2060.
He said the plan would, among other things, lift 100 million people out of poverty, reduce Nigeria’s carbon footprint, drive economic growth and create jobs. Adding that it was time for Nigeria and the African continent to take ownership of transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address peculiar growth objectives.
“There is a clear need for African nations to engage more critically and vocally in conversations on our global climate future,” he said.
“More importantly, we need to take ownership of our transition pathways and design climate-sensitive strategies that address our growth objectives. This is what Nigeria has sought to do with our energy transition plan. The plan was designed to tackle the dual crises of energy poverty and climate change and deliver SDG seven by 2030 and net zero by 2060.
“While centring the provision of energy for development, industrialization and economic growth, we anchored the plan on key objectives, including lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population and managing the expected long term job loss in the oil sector due to global decarbonisation.
Osinbajo said the transition plan requires a significant amount of resources, including spending $410 billion by 2060. “Nigeria would need to spend $410 billion above business as usual spending to deliver a transition plan by 2060, which translates to about $10 billion per year,” he said.
The vice-president added that Nigeria has set up an inter-ministerial energy transition implementation working group and is “currently engaging with partners to secure an initial $10 billion support package ahead of COP27”.