Salako: Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan to Gulp $1.9tn in Spending

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

The Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Environment, Iziaq Salako, yesterday, said Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan would require $1.9 trillion in spending up to the year 2060, including $410 billion above business-as-usual spending.
This additional financing requirement, he disclosed, translates to about $10 billion per annum but average international financing flows to Nigeria for clean energy have been about $655 million per year over the past decade.

Similarly, Salako explained that the unconditional target in Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) required $17.7 billion in investments annually.
The minister made the disclosure to journalists at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja; shortly after arriving from the inaugural AU Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya

Salako, who delivered the president’s speech at the event said: “We designed an ambitious Energy Transition Plan to achieve universal access to energy by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2060 while prioritising industrialisation, job creation, and economic growth.

“Significantly, our plan helps to crystallise the scale of resources needed to deliver climate targets, so that the current financial flows will not suffice.”
He further added: “We have been established that developed world contribute to the problem of climate change, the solution is in Africa and for the first time, Africa was able to speak with one voice and come out with the Nairobi declaration which talks a lot about the need for developed world to treat Africa as one.
“Not just given handouts or aids but more or less paying for what they have caused in terms of supporting green transitions, green jobs, energy transition to more sustainable ones and that is in general terms for Africa.

“For Nigeria, we were able to establish that the bold step taken by President Tinubu to remove subsidy from fossil fuel is not just an economic decision because if you look at the data, you will find out between when the subsidy was removed and now, consumption of fossil fuel has gone down by almost 30 percent and if you quantify that in terms of emissions, it is running into millions of tons that we have been able to reduce.
“So, Africa leaders have been able to declare that removal of fuel subsidy is a survival decision and it has helped Nigeria to refocus as we are now exploring alternatives.”
Continuing, he maintained that continentally, Africa has been able to put together and show that the issue of climate that Africa is bearing the brunt of a climate crisis which is a creation of the developed world.