Electricity: AfDB Approves $500m Loan for Nigeria

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.