THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has disclosed plans to invest a significant portion of its $1 billion policy-based operation fund in Nigeria’s power sector.
The vice president of Power, energy, and climate change at the AfDB, Kevin Kariuki disclosed this at the 8th edition of the Africa Energy Market Place, held in Abuja on Thursday, May 16.
According to him, the continental bank is aware of the extent of the challenges in the Nigerian power sector, ranging from addressing the electricity access deficit to rehabilitating and upgrading the power system to meet a load of 20 gigawatts(GW) which is believed to be the true demand, for Nigeria’s over 200 million people.
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“Hence, we must have all our hands on the deck, empowered by the new Electricity Act, 2023. At AfDB we put our money where our mouth is, as is manifested by the fact we will be shortly seeking board approval for a $1 billion policy-based operation (PBO) with a significant energy component aimed at supporting the ongoing power sector reforms triggered by the new Electricity Act.
“The timing of the AEMP and the proposed policy-based lending focused on the energy sector is not coincidental. We will finance the policy recommendations to actualise the expected outcomes from the National Integrated Electricity Policy and Strategic Implementation Plan,” he added.
He disclosed that the bank was financing a study for the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to explore the deployment of battery energy storage systems to enhance grid stability and facilitate greater uptake of renewable energy generation.
“Nigeria is part of our flagship United States 20 Billion Desert to Power Initiative, which aims to generate 10,000 MW of solar power across 11 countries in the Sahel region to provide power to 250 million Africans. This portends great promise for increasing the proportion of renewable energy in Nigeria’s energy mix.
“Through this multi-prong approach of supporting policy development, financing critical power sector infrastructure, and providing technical assistance and capacity building, we strongly believe that our partnership with the federal government will ensure a viable and sustainable power sector will yield the desired result,” he said.
Earlier in his remarks, the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Sanusi Garba, said that the major challenge with the Nigerian power sector was the insolvent state of the distribution companies.
He stressed that the implementation of the Electricity Act required a strong political will and decisions that impact the wider public.
“And the challenge we have today is the ability of major stakeholders to feed the nation he said. and state exactly what the challenge is so that we can collectively address the issue,”
The ICIR reported the insolvency of the distribution companies which informed the recent acquisition of its majority stake by some banks through a restructuring effected by the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE).
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.