Nigeria requires $1.9trn, perfect policies, political stability to achieve net zero by 2060 – Damilola Ogunbiyi SEforALL CEO
Oredola Adeola
Nigeria will need about $1.9 trillion in finance with perfect policies, and political stability, in order to achieve net zero between now and 2060, this was revealed by Damilola Ogunbiyi, the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) at the recently concluded 2023 Energy Forum held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
EnergyDay gathered that the Energy Forum focused on the challenge of managing energy security priorities and decarbonization efforts in tandem, including the continuing impact of the crisis in Ukraine on the energy transition.
According to the SEforALL CEO, Nigeria made it very clear that we needed to uplift one hundred million people out of poverty, and we needed to uplift our industrial base.
Ogunbiyi said, “For Nigeria to get to net zero, the country will need perfect policies, perfect political stability, between now and 2060. This will cost the country huge finance in the region of $1.9 trillion.
“So, we need to really be realistic when we talk about the numbers of what you’re asking of countries that are easily spending 80 percent of their revenue on debt servicing—on interest-only debt servicing—how exactly they’re going to do it.
“I don’t know the solutions, but I’m excited to find how we’re going to crack this. But this financing issue is really at the heart of the entire energy transition.
Speaking about what is being done to ensure that energy transition does not result in backsliding in socioeconomic development the SEforALL CEO said that it’s important to understand the energy needs and what the energy is used for.
She said, “President Muhammadu Buhari at COP26 announced they will get to net zero at 2060, not 2050, because when you looked at the transport sector, the industrial sector, the oil and gas sector, it was—it just wasn’t possible. So being realistic about what a country has to do is important.
“If you can do it clean, that’s your problem but figure it out. So, we need to take in consideration what the country wants. What we do a lot of time is take these regional approaches to a very localized problem.
“There’s a vast difference from the energy transition plan in Nigeria to our neighbors in Ghana, to Kenya. You know, but you say, oh, Africa as a whole.
Africa is full of different countries and different nuances. Even in my country what happens in northern Nigeria is different from what happens in southern Nigeria.
In her comment about the biggest transition risk for especially for about 800 million people around the world that still don’t have access to energy, the SEforAll boss noted that despite the figure showing that 800 million without access, about 1 billion people are actually affected by energy poverty.
According to her, that you have electricity doesn’t mean you have it constantly, and what those figures don’t talk about is the 2.4 billion people that don’t have access to clean cooking as well.
She said, “So when we talk about energy we have to talk about both. I mean, the greatest risk is leaving those people behind. It’s continuing with growing demands of energy elsewhere and leaving those people behind, and that’s why energy efficiency is just so important.
Ogunbiyi further called on all relevant players in the climate space and governments, to come together and look at what is the social return on investment.
She said, “By giving power to these people affects GDP, affects jobs. It creates whole industries if we do focus as well with our effort for places that don’t have it.
“It’s also important because if those people get electricity the way the rest of the world has, using very dirty fuels, we’re going to go back in about two decades again saying we want to transition again, and we don’t have to do that,” the SEforALL CEO noted.
