Nigeria

Nigeria, one of four new countries in this year’s CCPI, ranks 17th overall, placing it among the medium-performing countries.

Nigeria has a mixed performance across the four main CCPI categories. It rates high in GHG Emissions and Energy Use but low in Climate Policy and very low in Renewable Energy.

Nigeria is among the few developing countries to have set an economy-wide emissions reduction target. The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), updated in 2021, pledges an unconditional contribution of 20% below business-as-usual by 2030 and a 47% contribution conditional on international support. The conditional target was increased from 45% to 47%. Nigeria has also a net-zero target of 2060.

Several steps to encourage investments in renewable energy

Despite these targets, fossil fuels are expected to remain a significant part of Nigeria’s energy mix in the near future. The country’s fossil-based energy-generation infrastructure shows elements of its colonial past. Nigeria’s substantial oil and natural gas reserves are why, for six decades, multinational companies have operated there, especially in the ecologically devastated Niger Delta. Accordingly, there are high costs for a structural change towards more renewable energies, making these new technologies less competitive than fossil fuels.

However, the Nigerian government has set a target of generating at least 30% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. To achieve this, it has taken several steps to encourage investment in renewable energy, such as creating a feed-in tariff system for renewable energy projects and establishing the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy (NREEEP). The NREEEP aims to increase renewable energy’s contribution to the country’s energy mix by providing incentives for developing renewable energy projects, promoting energy efficiency measures, and bolstering the regulatory framework for renewable energy investments.

Implementation must follow up targets

The CCPI country experts demand stronger climate finance with green bonds for adaptation and mitigation. In 2017, the Federal government and stakeholders, including the World Bank and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), issued green bonds for the first time in Africa. The experts insist this money should be invested to scale up and sustain finance for solar technologies to simultaneously achieve energy access and NDC climate goals. The experts agree that Nigeria has significantly improved its regulatory framework over the last few years. However, implementation must follow up on those ambitious targets if the country’s policy evaluation is to substantially improve.

Overall, the experts demand a coherent implementation of climate policy, development of a national strategy for technology transfer, more investments in climate-resilient infrastructure, and a quicker shift from fossils to renewables.

Key Outcomes

CCPI experts

The following national experts agreed to be mentioned as contributors for this year’s CCPI:

• Smith Nwokocha (Voice of The Vulnerable)
• Michael David (GIFSEP)