SEforALL CEO, World Bank President highlight clean energy investment opportunity across Africa during historic Nigeria visit
Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) CEO Damilola Ogunbiyi and recently appointed World Bank President Ajay Banga met with private sector leaders in Abuja on 4 August, in a show of their shared commitment towards mobilizing finance for African countries’ energy, climate and development goals.
The visit to Abuja, a first for Banga in his new role, was a clear, tangible step towards realizing the mandate of the World Bank’s new Private Sector Investment Lab, which was recently announced in June this year. The Lab was created to identify and focus on specific approaches that can be implemented and scaled by the World Bank to mobilize capital more effectively, with the goal of crowding in greater levels of private finance. Banga chairs the Lab, and Ogunbiyi was appointed as a founding member.
Both met with private investors during a roundtable focused on the role of the private sector in delivering universal energy access. Participants highlighted the wide spectrum of investment opportunities in both grid-based and distributed renewable energy (DRE) solutions that exist in Nigeria and across Africa.
Among the topics discussed was the catalytic role the Nigeria Energy Transition Plan has played in attracting private sector investment to energy and infrastructure projects in the country. The plan, which launched in 2022, details pathways, including investment needs, for significant low-carbon development of energy systems across five key sectors in Nigeria: power, cooking, transport, industry, and oil and gas. A dedicated Energy Transition Office has been established to drive the plan’s activation and has already secured USD 3.5 billion for its underlying projects.
In addition to the roundtable, Banga, Ogunbiyi and investors visited innovative clean energy projects near the city of Abuja to showcase the viability of such projects and how they might be replicated elsewhere. They were accompanied by Ahmad Salihijo Ahmad, Managing Director of Nigeria Rural Electrification Agency, at two local mini-grid sites.
“Renewable energy solutions hold the key to a sustainable future, and I am pleased that the World Bank, through Ajay Banga’s leadership, is focused on scaling transition finance in renewable energy and infrastructure in the Global South, while addressing the barriers preventing private sector investment in emerging markets,” said Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. “At SEforALL, we are ready to provide our expertise and support towards catalyzing private capital to close energy access gaps and achieve a clean energy transition.”