We are working towards reducing energy shortcomings by year 2030 – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria is working on an ambitious Energy Plan towards reducing the energy shortcomings by 2030.

The President spoke in line with Nigeria’s role as a Global Champion for the Energy Transition, the theme of the High-Level Dialogue on Energy at the sidelines of the 76th United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Buhari noted that Nigeria’s commitment to a just transition is reflected in its ambitious Energy Compact, which includes the “Government’s flagship project to electrify Five-Million households and Twenty-Million people using decentralized solar energy solutions. This is a major first step towards closing our energy access deficit by 2030.

“Nigeria’s commitment is also reflected in the development of our Energy Transition Plan, which was developed with the support of the UK COP26 Energy Transition Council.”

Buhari called for support from developed countries to unlock the financing needed to accelerate a just energy transition for all.

“The scale of financing required for Nigeria to achieve net-zero, amounts to over Four-Hundred Billion US Dollars across the Nigerian economy in excess of business-as-usual spending over the next thirty years, he said

“This breaks down to One-Hundred and Fifty-Five Billion US Dollars net spend on generation capacity, One-Hundred and Thirty-Five Billion US Dollars on transmission and distribution infrastructure, Seventy-Five Billion UD Dollars on buildings, Twenty-One Billion US Dollars on industry and Twelve-Billion US Dollars on transport,” Buhari explained

“As a global leader on the energy transition, it is imperative that I flag a major risk to development that stems from the current narrative around the energy transition, particularly on the role of gas and the lack of financing.

Buhari also said in his administration’s development objectives, gas will have a key role to play here for some years before being phased out.