Nigeria has asked the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to scale up the provision of and access to renewable energy in order to deliver development results and meet global climate goals.
Finance minister Kemi Adeosun presented the country’s position on renewable energy and regional integration during the G24 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Washington D.C., United States.
Adeosun stated that scaling up renewable energy was a “win-win area” to deliver development results and contribute to the global climate goals.
She said, “We have a major energy infrastructure gap to meet the needs of industrialization. Providing access to energy to all parts of Nigeria, both urban and rural, is a priority.
“If we succeed, we estimate that this could unleash the development potentials of two-third of our population of 180 million.”
The Minister added that generation of renewable energy was a financially attractive option for reaching rural populations.
While canvassing the reinforcement of regional integration process by the World Bank and the IMF, Adeosun said the process would boost trade between countries and serve as a potential growth driver.
“We believe that part of the solution must be regional, multi-country initiatives on infrastructure development. Though complex and often not easy to undertake, there are also successful cases of such projects.”
The IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, advised low-income countries to be very cautious in dealing with investors, noting that there was a huge surge yields on the path of investors.
The Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank, Kristalina Georgieva, urged developing countries to look at other sources of finance rather than dependence on the Paris Club.
“It is imperative for us to maximize finance for development and also critical for us think of comparative strength for significant finance to flow into developing countries,” Georgieva said
In a communiqué at the end of its meeting, the G24 Ministers and Governors urged the World Bank Group and the IMF to continue strengthening their assistance in improving domestic resource mobilisation and enhancing its contribution to inclusive growth through progressive tax policies, as well as more efficient and better targeted public spending.
“We welcome the support of the IMF, the World Bank and other international Financial Institutions in increasing the efficiency of public investments in infrastructure, as well as their impact in improving connectivity, including at the regional level, and addressing distributional and climate objectives,” it stated.
