Tinubu affirms Nigeria’s commitment to improved electricity

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has concluded his visit to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he joined other African leaders to participate in the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit. The two-day Summit, hosted by the government of Tanzania in collaboration with the African Union, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank Group, adopted the […]

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has concluded his visit to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where he joined other African leaders to participate in the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit.

The two-day Summit, hosted by the government of Tanzania in collaboration with the African Union, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the World Bank Group, adopted the Dar es Salaam Declaration focused on providing access to electricity for 300 million people in Africa by 2030.

A high point of the event was the presidential endorsement of the Dar es Salaam Declaration by African leaders at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre.

Following the reading of the Declaration, leaders from Nigeria, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia signed the document.

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Through the Declaration, the leaders from the 12 countries expressed their commitment to ensuring electricity access for their citizens in the next five years.

The 12 nations plan to achieve the goal through National Energy Compacts, which identify specific policy measures to address constraints across their energy sector and set targets based on their unique context.

In the speech read by the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, the Nigerian leader lauded the African Development Bank (AfDB), the World Bank Group, and development partners for their collective pledge to bring electricity access to 300 million people in Africa by 2030.

President Tinubu also called on African leaders to prioritise energy access, emphasising collective action.

President Tinubu also used the occasion to reaffirm Nigeria’s commitment to providing reliable, affordable, and sustainable electricity to its unelectrified population by 2030.

Detailing the substantial progress Nigeria has achieved with the support of international development partners, President Tinubu acknowledged AfDB’s $1.1 billion, expected to provide electricity for 5 million people by the end of 2026, while its $200 million in the Nigeria Electrification Project will provide electricity for 500,000 people by the end of 2025.

“We also look forward to the AfDB’s planned $700 million investment in the Nigeria Desert to Power programme and its planned $500 million facility for the Nigeria-Grid Battery Energy Storage System, which will provide electricity for an additional two million people.

“We have equally begun making plans to ensure the effectiveness of the World Bank’s $750 million support for expanding Nigeria’s distributed energy access via mini-grids and standalone solar systems that will provide access to power to 16.2 million people,” he said.

President Tinubu highlighted ongoing investments in renewable energy, particularly solar power in Nigeria.

The president returned to Abuja last night after attending the Africa Heads of State Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.