AfDB to invest $ 12b on Africa’s energy sector
African Development Bank (AfDB) has said that it plans to invest the sum of $12billion to address the perennial energy crisis in Africa. AfDB President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina made this known to journalists in Lagos.
According to him, the bank is investing the sum in the energy sector on the continent for the next five years to leverage the $45-50b required for energy development.
While lamenting that about 645 million Africans do not have access to power, Adesina said that the AfDB provided $1.7b in financing energy and help provide electricity for over three million people.
Speaking in Lagos at the inauguration of two books titled, ‘Transformative Paradigms in African Development;” and “A Journey in African Development,’ written by Chief Bisi Ogunjobi, a former Vice President of AfDB, Adesina, who lamented that the intractable energy crisis has continued to have adverse effect on the continent, said African leaders must do everything within their powers to address the problem.
He said,The development of the private sector is crucial for African economies. The bulk of the private sector accounted for by small and medium scale enterprises, which lack financing to grow their businesses and their challenges are compounded by structural factors such as lack of electricity that drives up their cost of doing business.
He said,“Unlocking access to affordable financing, reducing over-taxation and addressing the problem of power will unleash the incredible potential of the private sector, (hence) AfDB is supporting various countries’ efforts at power generation and distribution by investing huge sums money to take the continent out of darkness.
In Nigeria, we provided $200million to support the Nigeria Electricity Trader to float bonds to address the challenges in the power sector. We supported the construction of Morocco’s Noor Ouzazarte, the largest concentrated solar power in the world, and also supported the development of the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, the largest in Africa.
He said,Two weeks ago, at the margins of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, AfDB also ” signed a new $6b energy financing facility to be provided by Japan to support power system, transition including clean coal technology” for the continent.
