Global Launch Of The Nigeria Integrated Planning Tool

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SPEECH DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE GLOBAL LAUNCH OF THE NIGERIA INTEGRATED PLANNING TOOL ON THE 3RD OF FEBRUARY, 2022

PROTOCOLS

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Secretary-General, for your special remarks and your support of our government’s efforts in closing energy access gaps, thank you Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, ministers present, development partners and colleagues.

Providing clean, sustainable and reliable energy access is tied to almost all Nigeria’s development goals. We have proven that transforming our energy system is a national priority through our Economic Sustainability Plan, and most recently with our President, President Muhammadu Buhari’s announcement at COP26 in Glasgow for Nigeria’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2060.

This net-zero ambition is critical to the global energy transition. However, Nigeria also faces other challenges, including lifting 100 million people out of poverty within a decade and driving economic growth, bringing modern energy services to the full population, and managing long-term job losses in the oil sector that will result from global decarbonization.

Our plans and our actions must address these various dimensions.
The question is this: what will it take for Nigeria to achieve net-zero; and what are the pathways and timelines required to balance emissions reductions with economic development?

To answer that, we developed a set of scenarios in our Energy Transition Plan, which was done with support from Sustainable Energy for All. Based on these scenarios, we developed a roadmap to achieve net-zero by 2060.
The transition plan focuses on full electrification of the economy by 2060, including over 250 gigawatts of installed capacity, and a massive build-out of renewable energy capacity. This requires a phased approach with credible milestones and targets and includes a solar-driven capacity increase on an unprecedented scale, which amounts to about 5 gigawatts per year through to 2060.

The transition to clean cooking will also require a phased approach. First, a transition to LPG-based cooking, and over time, a longer-term transition to electricity-based cooking as networks improve.

Our net-zero 2060 pathway also requires around USD 10 billion per year of funding over the next 40 years across the country’s economy, and most of this will be for the power sector.

The data and evidence that the Energy Transition Plan was based on were instrumental in helping us understand the true scale of effort and resources that would be required.

While the Energy Transition Plan outlines our long-term pathway to net zero, we must have a more granular plan to start our journey, to begin implementation today. Just yesterday the Energy Transition Plan was considered by the Federal Executive Council chaired by the President. While approving it, the President directed that the lead Ministry, the Ministry of Environment engage with all Ministries, Departments and Agencies and stakeholders to develop a robust implementation plan.

The robust and dynamic data on the Nigeria Integrated Energy Planning Tool that we are proud to be launching today is an important component of that effort as it begins to translate the Energy Transition Plan roadmap into concrete electrification, clean cooking, and productive use projects.

It will help determine clear strategies for prioritization of regions and technology interventions towards making informed decisions that support our energy access by 2030 goals in a comprehensive manner which further supports and complements our net-zero by 2060 ambitions.

This new geospatial tool not only has updated data on our populations’ electricity needs, including on productive use but also incorporates clean cooking data to guide the implementation of clean cooking solutions. This I believe is a first and demonstrates a truly integrated energy planning approach.

We have also made the tool open source so that the most robust group of stakeholders can work with us in meeting our energy needs.

The analysis has shown us that for Nigeria to achieve universal access to energy by 2030, we would need an estimated 19.3 million new electricity connections across the country. In addition, we would need over 11 million grid densification connections owing to population growth in settlements that currently have access to electricity.
The tool also helps us decide the least-cost approach to achieving these targets, which consists of 5.4million grid connections, 8.9 million mini-grid connections, and 5 million solar-home system connections at a cost of USD 25.8 billion. Similar modelling has been done for clean cooking and productive use demand so that our energy plans are comprehensive and data-driven.

The Nigeria Integrated Energy Planning Tool will be essential to our government achieving our stated goals, and I personally will ensure that our various levels and arms of government promote it and use it as broadly as possible.
Setting a clear pathway to achieve our energy access and transition targets gives us an opportunity to establish a coherent narrative around what an ambitious yet feasible decarbonisation effort for a developing country looks like while also factoring in our overall socio-economic and development aspirations.

I’m also pleased that through these efforts, Nigeria can lead the way for other African countries to put forward similar commitments towards universal energy access and the clean energy transition, towards defining what a just and equitable energy transition looks like across Africa.

As I mentioned earlier, this will require significant financing from a range of partners. At this global launch, I call on the international community to support Nigeria’s transition efforts through realistic and much-needed climate finance commitments. While we put forward a comprehensive emissions reduction pathway with near-term and long-term actions and milestones, our ask is for a fair exchange in terms of commitments from development partners.

To close, I would like to extend my special thanks to Sustainable Energy for All, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, for their valuable contributions in making this project a reality and continued support from the World Bank, which should prove as a catalyst for energy development and improving the lives of Nigerians. On behalf of the government of Nigeria, we look forward to continuing our collaboration.

Thank you very much indeed and thanks for listening.