Nigeria, along with several other African countries, is set to benefit from a $90 billion electricity fund backed by the World Bank and the African Development Bank. The initiative aims to provide electricity to 300 million people across the continent by 2023, as reported by Bloomberg.
The fund is part of the Mission 300 program, recently launched by leading climate organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation, Global Alliance for People and Planet, and Sustainable Energy For All. This program will offer technical assistance to projects, helping them secure funding if they meet the criteria.
Nigeria will play a significant role in the project through the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) initiative. According to the World Bank, this project will provide over 17.5 million Nigerians—20% of the currently unserved population—with access to electricity, replacing more than 250,000 polluting diesel generators.
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP), established in 2021 by the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bezos Earth Fund, and the Ikea Foundation, has committed an initial $10 million through the World Bank to support 15 clean energy projects in 11 African countries, including Burkina Faso and Mozambique. The focus is on advancing technologies such as mini-grids.
“We’ve seen little progress in expanding electricity access in Africa over the past 15 years. This is the defining climate and development challenge for the continent over the next 20 years,” said Ashvin Dayal, head of the Rockefeller Foundation’s power and climate program, in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
GEAPP’s CEO, Woochong Um, emphasized the need for a large-scale fundraising and advocacy effort to create bankable projects that deliver impactful and commercially viable results. “We will launch a massive fundraising and advocacy campaign to mobilize the resources required,” he stated.
The $90 billion needed will be sourced equally from public funds, concessional and philanthropic finance, and commercial commitments. Potential funding sources include the International Monetary Fund’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust and re-channeled special drawing rights.
Nigeria’s external debt to the World Bank is currently $15.59 billion, as of March 31, 2024, according to the Debt Management Office. While the World Bank may approve four additional loan projects totaling $2 billion for Nigeria this year, the $750 million allocated for the DARES project, approved in December 2023, has yet to be disbursed. This project is crucial for bridging Nigeria’s electricity access gap, aiming to improve energy access for millions through renewable energy solutions.
Credit: Nairametrics (Text Excluding Headline)
