International Financing of Innovative Projects in Nigeria

The World Bank (WB) has approved a maximum loan of $750 million to Nigeria to finance the construction of some renewable energy projects in this West African country. First, as the World Bank writes in a press release, “the loan will be used to finance a project called Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES), which will provide electricity to millions of Nigerians.” The country will build several innovative photovoltaic and wind power plants, providing access to renewable electricity for more than 17.5 million people in the African country.

World Bank experts hope that the concessional loan will mobilize more than a billion dollars in private capital. In addition, there are agreements to provide significant parallel funding to Nigeria from sustainable development partners, including $100 million from the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) and another $200 million from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) guarantee. According to World Bank sources, other international partners intend to participate in projects related to the energy transition in Nigeria, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the African Development Bank (AFDB).

However, these ambitious projects may be hampered by violence from military gangs that continue to attack civilians. Late in December last year, terrorist attacks in Bokkos, in Nigeria’s Plateau state, killed at least 170 people. On Christmas Eve, allegedly more than a thousand Fulani attacked mainly Christian communities in Nigeria from December 23 to 26.