The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved a loan of $500 million to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The AfDB loan is aimed at financing the first phase of the Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Program (EGET-SP), a new programme aimed at accelerating transformation of the country’s electricity infrastructure and improving access to cleaner sources of energy.
It will help close the financing gap of the Federal Budget in the 2024/25 fiscal year, specifically supporting the implementation of the country’s new Electricity Act and the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan.
The Nigerian government launched the energy transition plan in August 2022, and in June 2023, passed a new Electricity Act decentralizing the electricity supply industry and setting the stage for increased investments by subnational governments and the private sector.
The energy transition plan envisions the development, by 2050, of 250 GW of installed electricity capacity, 90% of which will be renewable.
It will provide clean cooking access to the bulk of the population by 2030, using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), biogas, biofuels like ethanol, and electric cookstoves.
The Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Programme will also support the implementation of these policies, helping deliver much-needed upgrades of Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure, and fast-tracking the country’s efforts to transition millions of households and businesses to cleaner and renewable sources of energy.
The Bank Group’s $500m support to the Federal Government of Nigeria is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at supporting the country’s economic growth, poverty reduction, and climate action efforts.
The Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Program (EGET-SP) is in line with the Bank Group’s new Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033.
