By Femi Akinola
The Director General Nigeria Country Office, African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Mr. Lamin Barrow on Tuesday stated that Nigeria relied heavily on fossil fuels adding that transition to more sustainable ways of energy is the best way to go but hinted that doing this require huge funding.
Barrow disclosed this while delivering a lecture titled: Climate Change and Energy Transition in Nigeria” during the 3rd Anniversary Lecture of the NatureNews newspaper in Abuja.
According to Barrow, transitioning from use of fossil fuels to a more sustainable ways require not only huge financial intervention but including social protection systems, to reconcile the loss of revenue and employment incurred by moving away from old models of energy production.
He said funding for renewable energy projects and investing in green jobs and financing the reskilling necessary for the absorption of existing local labour into these projects will be fundamental.
Highlighting on energy transition to net- zero by 2060, the AfDB boss noted that the 30:30: 30: principle remains central to the just energy transition saying, “this indicate that Nigeria should achieve 30,000 MW of generated power capacity from its current 13,000MW, by the year 2030 of which 30% should be from renewable energy.”
He further explained that gas remain a strategic commodity and a transition energy source for Nigeria noting that the current power sector in the country is 80% by hydro where the country has several off-grids and decentralised renewable energy systems mostly in rural communities.
He noted that less than 1% renewable energy projects in Nigeria is connected to the National grid.
Meanwhile, Barrow disclosed that the African Development Bank new climate change and green growth framework policy (2021-2030) and the Nigeria’s strategy paper (2020 -2024) focuses on ensuring climate compatible development.
He, however, added that ensuring Nigeria’s transition is of strategic importance in promoting low-carbon and climate resilient development, and supporting implementation of the 2050 long-term vision which recognises that addressing climate change- energy nexus presents challenges for the country’s development due to its high reliance on the oil and gas sector.
In the mean time, Barrow disclosed that the AfDB is ready to give Nigeria the necessary support regarding intensifying national effort to diversify Nigeria’s economy and lead to the development of low-carbon technologies such as solar clean cooking solutions, energy efficiency technologies and alternative energy.
In addition to these, Barrow explained that the bank will also help Nigeria to achieve gas monetization and reduce gas flaring in line with Nigerian Government anti- flaring policy by utilising natural gas which would otherwise have been lost and flared into the host communities atmospheres.
He recommended that Nigeria should go into bilateral engagement to forge support for key actions or embark on initiatives which can help the government to make best use of key events, and initiatives in the run- up to COP29 in Azerbaijan later this year.
In his submission during the lecture, he noted that the bilateral engagement includes engaging with countries to get needed support for Nigeria’s gas-based energy transition projects, working on energy and technology, and engaging with key initiatives for scaling up climate finance, such as the Bridgetown initiative of the Prime Minster of Barbados.