- Nigeria secured a $190 million renewable energy loan from Japan at TICAD 9 to expand distributed clean energy access.
- The government will use these funds to strengthen transmission infrastructure, commission substations, and enhance local technical capacity.
Nigeria has secured a $190 million loan from Japan to expand renewable energy access. President Bola Tinubu led the country’s delegation to the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama.
The Federal Ministry of Power said the financing, backed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), will fund distributed renewable energy projects in underserved communities. The loan builds on Nigeria’s $750 million World Bank-supported programme to bring clean power to more than 17 million people.
During the summit, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu met with Japanese firms, including Toshiba, Hitachi and Japan’s Transmission & Distribution Corporation, focusing on grid expansion, efficiency and loss reduction.
The ministry said Nigeria recently approved counterpart funding of ₦19.1 billion ($24 million) to unlock an additional $238 million JICA loan for transmission projects. These include nearly 208 km of new 330kV and 132kV lines, six new substations, and multiple line extensions.
Adelabu also highlighted three substations completed under a $32 million JICA grant in Abuja, Nasarawa and Lagos, which will strengthen power supply to households, businesses and industrial clusters such as Lagos Port.
Meanwhile, through JICA support, the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria has commissioned new training equipment to boost the skills of distribution engineers and reduce network losses.
Adelabu said only 55–60% of Nigeria’s 200 million people currently have electricity access, which is unreliable. He said the government is expanding grid coverage in urban centres while promoting off-grid solutions such as solar mini-grids for rural areas.
He described JICA as a “reliable partner” in Nigeria’s energy transition, adding that the country is moving from planning to delivery in its power sector reforms.