$23bn Investment Opportunities on Energy Transition Plan -Minister

The Federal Government has identified about $23 billion in investment opportunities in Nigeria for projects that are directly related to the country’s Energy Transition Plan, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, stated on Monday.

In his remarks at the 2nd German-Nigerian Symposium on Green Hydrogen, Adelabu said the opportunities would not only provide electric power for economic development, but would result in significant net job creation with up to 340,000 jobs by 2030.

He said the ETP would create up to 840,000 jobs by 2060, driven mainly by power, cooking and transport sectors, adding that gas would play a critical role as a transition fuel in Nigeria’s net-zero pathway particularly in power and cooking sectors.

“The ETP creates significant investment opportunities such as the establishment and expansion of industries related to solar energy, green hydrogen, and electric vehicles.

“$1.9 trillion is required to get Nigeria to Net Zero by 2060, including $410 billion above usual spending. This additional cost translates to about $10bn annually. A $23bn investment opportunity has been identified based on current in-country programmes and projects that are directly related to the Just energy transition,” Adelabu stated.

Also speaking on the essence of gas as Nigeria’s transition fuel, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Ogbonnaya Orji, said gas had the potential to produce blue hydrogen, which, though not as clean as green hydrogen, would be useful in Nigeria’s journey towards cleaner energy sources.

“And sadly Nigeria is still battling to put in place and embrace efficient gas commercialisation and utilisation policy. For instance, NEITI’s recent report disclosed a total unremitted revenue of over $8.2bn. These revenues arose from liabilities of government agencies and oil/gas companies.

“A breakdown of the unremitted payments in our report showed outstanding gas royalty of $559.8m and another unremitted sum of $828.8m from unpaid gas flare penalty which indicated that more gas was flared during the period than utilised posing serious dangers to the global zero emissions agenda.

“NEITI is working closely with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission on its ongoing gas commercialisation policy to ensure transparent and effective implementation to reverse the trend of gas flare,” Orji stated.

The Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Annett Günther, said Germany and Nigeria were both committed to driving the production and use of hydrogen.

She also referred to the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz’ recent visit to Nigeria, in which he highlighted that the energy partnership between both nations was not only about traditional fossil fuels but also about hydrogen, the gas of the future.

On his part, the Country Director, GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS, Markus Wagner, said, “It is crucial to recognise that green hydrogen has the potential to revolutionise our energy landscape. It offers a path to reducing carbon emissions, diversifying energy sources, and boosting economic growth.

“Nigeria and Germany share a long and fruitful history of cooperation in the energy sector and GIZ has been an active partner in this journey, working alongside Nigerian institutions and partners to drive positive change.”