Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president, has said that Nigeria’s energy transition plan would put the nation on the path of prosperity and guide the rapid expansion of related industries, with 840,000 jobs created by 2060.
The Nigerian leader stated this at a closed-door meeting with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to him, a careful implementation would create significant investment opportunities as it will engender the establishment and expansion of industries related to solar energy, hydrogen and electric vehicles.
“It will guide Nigeria’s rapid transition to renewable energy and result in significant job creation with up to 340,000 jobs created by 2030 and up to 840,000 jobs created by 2060 driven mainly by power, cooking and transport sectors.”
He restated the commitment of the Nigerian government towards ensuring that there is a rapid and strategic transition to renewable energy in response to the world-wide efforts for the preservation of the environment.
Buhari stressed that his administration had, in august this year, launched a home-grown, data-backed, multi-pronged energy transition plan, which is the country’s framework in achieving net-zero emissions by 2060.
Highlighting some of the details in the plan, the President said that through the use of emerging technologies and alternative fuels such as hydrogen, bioenergy and waste-to-energy, a pathway would be created for accelerated decarburization of energy systems and harnessing of new and diverse technologies towards low carbon development while aligning to our broader developmental aspirations in a fair and just manner.
The plan has also sets out a timeline and framework for the attainment of emissions reduction across five key sectors, including power, cooking, oil and gas, transport and industry.
The President added that, “gas will play a critical role as a transition fuel in Nigeria’s net-zero pathway, particularly in the power and cooking sectors.
“The clean energy goals of the plan include modernizing the power sector with large-scale integration of renewable energy, enhancing energy efficiency and conservation; and is expected to generate 250 gigawatts of installed energy capacity with over 90% made up of renewables.”
He commended Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for his tireless efforts in the preparations for the COP27 coming up in November, this year and assured him of the support of the Nigerian Government.
