By *To meet US Vice President Kamala Harris
VP Yemi Osinbajo in the early hours of Wednesday left Abuja for the United States to seek global partnerships and backing for Nigeria’s as recently launched Energy Transition Plan.
He is leading Nigeria’s Energy Transition Implementation Working Group (ETWG) on the US mission with meetings beginning from tomorrow-the 1st of September to advance the plan and secure global backing from the US government, the private sector, and other development partners.
The ETWG which he chairs involves relevant ministers and other top government officials.
While in the United States, Osinbajo will meet US Vice President, Kamala Harris; US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm; Secretary of Treasury, Janet Yellen, and President of World Bank Group, David Malpass, among others.
The Vice President is additionally scheduled to speak on Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC.
Retracting that Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan formally launched last week at a global virtual event is a homegrown, data-backed, and multi-pronged strategy developed for the attainment of 2060 net-zero emissions commitment in five critical sectors: power, cooking, oil & gas, transport & industry.
A statement given by the VP’s spokesman, Laolu Akande on Wednesday, stated that Nigeria needs $410 billion to deliver the Transition Plan by 2060.
It said, among other highlights, that the plan needs at least $10 billion per annum above business as usual spending for successful execution.
The statement further expressed that at the lunch, the World Bank and a renewable energy organization- Sun Africa, vowed an amount of $1.5 billion each totaling an initial $3 billion investment to help the execution of Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan.
The Vice President’s delegation to the U.S. will include the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Works and Housing, Raji Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu; Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi; Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General/CEO for Sustainable Energy for All, Ms Damilola Ogunbiyi.
Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr Uzoma Emenike will likewise join the delegation.
The Vice President will be back in Abuja early next week.
