Osinbajo: Nigeria has capacity to deliver sustainable energy future for Africa

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says Nigeria has what it takes to deliver a sustainable energy future for Africa.

Speaking at the 2023 Nigeria international energy summit in Abuja on Tuesday, Osinbajo said Africa can become the first truly green civilization in the world.

However, the Vice-President said the continent would need rapid industrialisation to increase energy access and pull millions of its people out of poverty.

“It has become increasingly clear to me that Nigeria has a crucial and strategic role in delivering the sustainable energy future that Africa and indeed the world must have in the next few years,” he said.

“Second is that it is the key sector actors such as are gathered in this room who must do a lot of the heavy lifting to get us there. The truth is, no other sector of our economy is as crucial in the transition to a more sustainable future.

“The future is not in Africa as a victim, it is in our nation and our continent driving the next stage of global economic progress by becoming the first truly green civilization in the world.

“The truth is, no other sector of our economy is as crucial in the transition to a more sustainable future. But what is that future? Let me say first what it is not. It is not a future with Africa at the bottom of the food chain in the brave new world of sustainable energy.

“But we must admit that today we have the largest number of individuals without access to power, the largest number without access to clean cooking options; we need rapid industrialisation to get millions of our people out of poverty, and we must do all without worsening global warming.”

Referring to the CarbonVista joint venture, a recent initiative launched by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and Vitol, a private firm, the Vice-President said the carbon trading initiative holds important opportunities for Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

He said the fund “would invest in carbon emission reduction projects in Nigeria and promote the Nigerian carbon market initiative”.

“We have a long way to go, but we are well able to achieve all we have set for ourselves. For me, I think the private sector must also clearly articulate its own sustainable energy ambitions in alignment with our transition plan. Let us act quickly,” he added.

He further said Nigeria’s energy transition plan will ramp up solar deployment as well as “the production of over 6 billion litres of biofuels annually to make green the transport sector on the path to e-mobility and the transition of at least two million Nigerian households to cleaner cooking fuels like LPG and electricity every year.”