Olasupo Olusi: BoI will raise resources to build climate-smart Nigeria

Olasupo Olusi, managing director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), says the financial institution raised over $5 billion in the last five years to build a climate-smart Nigeria.

Olusi spoke in Abuja on Thursday, during the joint international chief executive officer (CEO) forum of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP).

He said the BoI, which is Nigeria’s leading development finance institution, would leverage its extensive partnership to raise the resources required for tackling climate change in the country.

He said part of the bank’s strategies is to accelerate Nigeria’s development through supporting environmentally friendly and sustainable projects across the key sectors of the economy.

He added that there is no better time for direct foreign investments (DFIs) to become the vehicles for change than now when climate change mitigation and adaptation have become the main drivers of economic growth globally.

“BOI has worked with our partners to raise over $5 billion from several international financial institutions in the last five years,” Olusi said.

“We intend to leverage our extensive partnership to raise the resources required for building a climate-smart Nigeria, in line with our President’s vision.

“As Nigeria’s leading DFI, one of the primary drivers of BoI’s developmental strategy is to accelerate Nigeria’s development through supporting environmentally friendly and sustainable projects across the key sectors of the economy.”

Listing the key ways through which financial institutions must work together to achieve climate targets, Olusi said BoI aims to contribute to the continental ambition of 27 percent of renewable power generation by 2030.

“Closing the financing gap; stronger climate commitments; tapping into the potential of renewable energy, and partnerships and collaboration, are the important ways that we must work together to achieve our climate ambitions,” he said.

Also speaking, Thabo Thamane, AADFI chairman, said reports predict the world economy will lose 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2048 if climate change is not tackled.

“The least developed countries, particularly those in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, will suffer the worst consequences,” he said.

“Africa, for instance, is estimated to lose 5 percent to 15 percent of its projected GDP by 2050, with a projected climate adaptation cost of $10 to $30 billion annually by 2030.

“At the same time, the Asia and ASEAN countries are projected to lose 26.5 percent and 37.4 percent of their GDP by 2048 if immediate action is not taken to mitigate the effects of climate change.”

He called for urgent action from all stakeholders in responding just and equitably by embedding climate-friendly initiatives in their operations for a better future.