The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline spans 5,600 kilometres and will likely shape Africa's energy landscape. Officials hope the pipeline will also become a major gas supplier to Europe.
Related story: Possible Trans Niger oil pipeline leak investigated by Shell Nigeria
Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu said on Monday the United States should help with more funding to help Africa's leading oil producer accelerate its energy transition plans as he pledged to meet the country's climate change goals.
Oil remains Nigeria's biggest foreign exchange earner and like many African nations, Nigeria argues that it still needs to exploit its hydrocarbons to help provide power to millions of citizens without electricity.
In a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Energy Resources, Geoffrey Praytt, Nigeria's president said the U.S. should speed up funding to help the West African nation achieve its energy transition goals.
"There are bottlenecks that must be unbottled in terms of how the U.S. bureaucracy responds to our needs. Help must be given when it is needed. Please take it home that we need help and very quickly too," Tinubu said.
"I want to assure you that Nigeria will honour her obligations on climate change and renewables," he said.
Nigeria's previous junior petroleum minister told U.S. climate envoy John Kerry last September that there was "some moral basis" for Nigeria to get funding from rich nations to meet its climate change goals.
Under Tinubu's economic plans, Nigeria would ramp up oil production to 4 million barrels per day, from an average 1.4 million bpd, which has raised questions on whether the country is still committed to its climate change goals.
By Felix Onuah, Reuters
Increased demand for solar power will drive a more than two-fold jump in the number of Nigerians working in the renewable energy sector by 2023, according to a report.
The sector could “create more than 76,000 new jobs by 2023” in solar services -- including home solutions, commercial and industrial appliances -- from 32,000 workers in 2019, according to a report by Power for All, a global coalition advocating renewable energy solutions to end blackouts.
Workers in the Nigerian renewable industry will exceed oil and gas employees totaling 65,000, the report said. Until August this year, Nigeria was Africa’s biggest producer of crude with one of the world’s largest gas reserves. Poor power supply and a more than 200% increase in diesel prices this year after Russia invaded Ukraine, have driven demand for solar power in the West African nation.
The research, which was supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, Good Energies Foundation and the European Programme GET.invest, is the outcome of a survey on employment and compensation in more than 350 companies across five countries namely Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Out of the five countries, Nigeria had the “fastest post-pandemic recovery and growth in decentralized renewable energy jobs,” it said.
Africa’s most populous nation has pledged to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by a fifth over the next decade under the Paris climate agreement. It launched an energy transition plan this year, which aims to attract private and public sector investments to expand solar infrastructure and grow gas-powered generation.
Read: Shell Acquires Nigerian Solar Firm in First Africa Power Buy
The country’s solar sector quickly recovered from lockdowns during the pandemic as it more than doubled workers to 50,000 in 2021, compared to the previous year, according to the report.
“The sector is maturing with the percentage of formal and skilled workers comprising over half of the decentralized renewable energy workforce,” it said.
By Emele Onu
Nigeria aims to raise an initial $10 billion in funding to implement its energy transition plan ahead of COP27 climate talks later this year, the country’s vice president said.
Africa’s most populous country needs at least an additional $10 billion a year and a total $410 billion to deliver on its net-zero targets by 2060, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said during a virtual launch of the country’s energy transition road map. Nigeria has already secured a $1.5 billion pledge from the World Bank and is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank for an additional $1.5 billion, according to a government statement.
Osinbajo said that every African country has signed the Paris Agreement and some, including Nigeria, have announced net-zero pledges. But a lack of electricity “hurts livelihoods and destroys the dreams of hundreds of millions of young people.”
“For Africa, the problem of energy poverty is as important as our climate ambitions,” Osinbajo said in a video address. “Energy use is crucial for almost every conceivable aspect of development -- wealth, health, nutrition, water, infrastructure, education and life expectancy.”
Nigeria’s energy transition plan is designed to lift 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, drive economic growth, bring modern energy services to the people and manage the expected long-term job losses in the oil sector due to global decarbonization, according to the statement.
By Anthony Osae-Brown
