The federal government announced on Thursday that Nigeria has been granted the hosting rights for the $5bn African Energy Bank.
It said the right was granted during a virtual extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation, adding that with the hosting right, the bank would have its headquarters in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, who announced this in Abuja, said Nigeria emerged as the preferred host nation amid stiff competition from Ghana, Benin, Algeria, South Africa, and Cote D’Ivoire.
“The biggest challenge we have in Africa as oil-producing countries is funding. And so a short while ago the Council of Ministers held a meeting and said the time has come for Africa to find solutions to financing its oil and gas investments. Based on that, the idea of the African Energy Bank was conceived,” he said.
The minister added that the approval positioned Nigeria favourably to win the bid to host the multilateral $5bn Africa Energy Bank, which will finance Africa’s hydrocarbon deposits of oil, gas, and condensates and support energy transition and net zero 2060 commitments.
