• Green Rising
  • Posts
  • Africa’s sleeping green giant is waking up

Africa’s sleeping green giant is waking up

Long a climate minnow, Nigeria is at last catching up with its peers on the continent… and never short of bluster, it hopes to dwarf them

Hello – this week we resolve a mystery. Given its size and dynamism, why has Nigeria long been absent from Africa’s green economy? And why is that changing now… and how? 

It is a country of superlatives. Nigeria ranks top in Africa in so many areas (oil production and film-making as well as corruption and insurgency). That made its absence in the climate space all the more notable. And its takeoff now intriguing.

Today’s reading time: 4 mins

LOGISTICS UPDATE | Thursday 2 May

EVENTS…

🌐 The Incorporated Society of Planters launches in Abuja (May 24)

🌐 Renewable energy project finance & modelling (May 28)

🖥️ Webinar: Digital solutions for renewable energy growth (May 8)

AND JOBS…

💼 UNICEF seeks health facility solar electrification specialist (Uganda)

💼 Commonwealth national climate finance adviser vacancy (Moz)

💼 WFP seeks resilience & impact evaluation consultant (Chad)

1.🚁 Heli view: Nigeria’s green economy takes off – at last

The ambition is remarkable. The Nigerian government has announced plans to plant 2 billion trees.

  • That’s more trees than the rest of the world together plants in a year.

Tonal change: Showing off a focus on climate, Nigeria sent the largest African delegation to COP28 in December. 

  • Its 1,411 delegates were only trumped by missions from Brazil and China. 

New boss: The focus on climate is led by President Bola Tinubu, who was elected a year ago.

  • He personally announced the launch of Nigeria’s first 100 electric buses. 

Stark contrast: Nigeria had long lagged other green economies in Africa, failing to invest in cleantech. 

  • In the Environment Performance Index (EPI), Nigeria ranked 168 out of 180 countries.

  • In sub-Saharan Africa, it was 41st out of 46 countries on environment and sustainability.

Energy gap: The failure to build a green economy is especially evident in access to electricity. 

  • Kenya used a high rate of renewables (95%) to push grid connections to above 80% of the population.

  • But Nigeria still only gets 28% of its power from renewables. And 90 million of its people (45%) lack grid power. 

  • The country has the highest number of people worldwide without access to electricity, and the gap widened in the past decade. Population growth beat electrification.

Unexpected blindspot: Failing to see the potential of the green economy in the past decade was odd for Nigeria. Its dynamic business community leads the continent in many other sectors.  

  • Nigeria had Africa’s largest economy last year (though only 17th by GDP per capita). 

  • It was also the continent’s largest oil producer as well as the most prolific film-maker. 

  • Its startup ecosystem has produced more unicorns than the rest of the continent together. 

Catching up: Belatedly now Nigerian business and politics are applying the same determination to succeed in the green economy. 

Early fruits: Business has started to embrace the green economy now that foreign money is coming.  

  • In collaboration with the Chinese government, over $5.8 billion has been invested in adding 3 Gigawatt (or 25% to current grid capacity). 

  • A collaboration between the World Bank, AfDB and the Africa Growing Together Fund is supplying $550 million in new funding.

Head scratching: So why did Nigeria’s green economy take so long to take off? Three reasons: 

  • Oil: The dominance of hydrocarbons  – and related private interests – hindered energy diversification.

  • Politics: Instability and corruption undermined the transition, deterring investors and delaying regulations

  • Size: Everything is slower in a country with 230 million people that produces 32 million tonnes of waste annually, making it the world’s seventh biggest polluter.

Changing winds: That the green economy seems to accelerate now is mainly due to politics.

Future ambitions: Nigeria is already thinking ahead of its peers on the continent. 

  • Ifeoma Malo, CEO of the Clean Tech Hub in Abuja, hopes that Nigeria, using its manpower, can lead in technical assistance in the green economy.

Realism needed: The country still has a long road ahead. But few peers have its track record of winning. 

2. Cheat sheet: Five Nigerian climate tech companies on the rise

(i) Clean Technology Hub: A pioneering hybrid for the research, demonstration and incubation of clean and green ideas and technologies in Africa and their validation for commercial-stage development. 

Get the full story...

This content is free, but you must be subscribed to continue reading. Cancel anytime.

Already a subscriber?Sign In.Not now

Reply

or to participate.