Nigeria: UK Injects Additional £10m Into Nigeria’s Clean Energy Financing

The United Kingdom on Monday injected additional £10 million (about N6 billion) into the funding of off-grid low-carbon energy projects aimed at reducing carbon emission and improving access to cleaner energy in the country.

The UK’s Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, announced the donation of the amount at a formal ceremony at the residence of the country’s High Commissioner to Nigeria to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Power, Mr. Jeddy Agba, in Abuja.

The amount, according to Ford, will also help to scale up solar-mini-grid and home systems, clean cooking infrastructure and cold storage infrastructure in Nigeria.

The UK minister, who is visiting Nigeria for the first time, said that UK was keen to improve energy access in Nigeria and help the country to keep up her COP26 commitments.

“The UK is committed to increasing both renewable energy and energy access in Nigeria, driving clean, sustainable and resilient growth,” Ford said.

“As the world looks to clean growth, we are witnessing an era-defining opportunity for the private sector. This transition is particularly exciting as it brings together UK government support with the institutional capital, which is essential to grow the sector at scale,” the minister added.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Power, Jeddy Agba, who received the money on behalf of his country, thanked the UK government for its active support towards Nigeria’s effort in achieving its carbon neutrality target in 2060.

Mr. Agba disclosed that Nigeria is currently implementing its clean energy transition scheme with a number of projects in Lagos,Borno and Kano states and has gone ahead to develop investor-grade data for project development and a $550 million facility from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, thus emerging with the largest clean energy access programme across the continent of Africa.

Agba said that while efforts had been made towards unlocking private sector activity in the clean energy transition, lack of access to local currency has continued to pose a major challenge to such investors and called for more international support to overcome the challenge.

“It is important for international partners to start contemplating on how best they can collaborate with these institutions to define blended finance models that combine local institution capital with foreign currency dominated support to unlock local currency financing of off grid development in a large scale,” Agba said.

Between 2014 and 2022, UK has provided more than £80 million into the renewable energy sector in Nigeria, including grants, technical assistance and leading support through advisory programmes such as UK Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility.

It also provided over $50 million for the establishment of InfraCredit in 2016, which provides local currency guarantees for renewable energy projects in Nigeria.

Also on Monday, the UK Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria’s Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, for the return of the sum of £210,610 (about N118.4 million) being compensation payment to Nigeria following a successful investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office relating to the use of corrupt agents in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The MoU effectively serves as a commitment of the two nations to continue the fight against corruption and bribery.

Ford said: “The Security and Defence Dialogue held in February 2022 between our two countries reaffirmed both UK and Nigeria’s commitment to work together to tackle illicit financial flows, bribery and corruption. The UK has zero tolerance policy to corruption and we hope that today’s signing sends a clear statement about our commitment to this.”

The Acting Solicitor-General of Nigeria and Acting Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Benjamin Okolo, who represented AGF Abubakar Malami, said Nigeria was delighted to receive the compensation and pledged that the cash would be strictly applied to the three identified projects-Second Niger Bridge, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Abuja-Kano Highway.

It will be recalled that the compensation payment to Nigeria was secure after a four-year corruption investigation led by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, SFO.

The money was obtained througha deferred Prosecution Agreement, DPA, which applies when a prosecutor agrees to defer prosecution in exchange for the defendant agreeing to fulfil certain requirements such as accepting criminal liability for offences and paying the appropriate compensation. The compensation being sent to Nigeria was paid by Amec Forster Wheeler (AFWEL) in relation to the use of corrupt agents in the oil and gas sector.