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EIB to invest in green
energy in Mauritania
MAURITANIA MAURITANIAN President El Ghazouani and in energy investment in more than 49 African
European Investment Bank (EIB) President countries since 1965.
Werner Hoyer have signed a declaration on The EIB is committed to supporting climate
green hydrogen cooperation, with an agreement action and clean energy investment across
also to scale up wind and solar power genera- Africa, Hoyer said.
tion to reduce the impact of global energy price “Today’s discussions with President El Gha-
shocks. zouani will unlock closer cooperation between
The EIB has agreed to support Mauritania’s the EIB and Mauritanian partners and builds on
green hydrogen investment plans by investing in 54 years of EIB engagement in the country. We
its “huge renewable energy potential.” are committed to bringing this cooperation to
“Closer cooperation with the European the next level, by harnessing Mauritania’s renew-
Investment Bank will allow Mauritania to ben- able energy potential and through our partner-
efit from the EIB’s unique technical experience ship through the Sahel Alliance.”
and financial strength,” Ghazouani said after the The two presidents also discussed a possible
meeting on June 22. expansion of support in telecom, transport and
Although a figure wasn’t mentioned, the industrial investment.
EIB has invested more than €16bn ($16.8bn)
Nigeria needs $100bn to boost
power supply, says World Bank
NIGERIA
NIGERIA needs around $100bn in the next 10 access to grid electricity (43% of the country’s
years to tackle the country’s unreliable power population) compared to 85% in Ghana, while
supply, the World Bank has estimated. Senegal should reach 100% by 2025.
Speaking at an event put on by The Electricity Khanna’s statement came one day after an
Hub, a media organisation focused on the Afri- announcement by the Nigerian Electricity Regu-
can power sector, Ashish Khanna, the World latory Commission (NERC) that contracts have
Bank’s Regional Director for Infrastructure for been signed to generate 5000MW of electricity
Africa West and East, said that Nigeria needs from July 1.
large investment. According to USAID, Nigeria has the poten-
“Our estimation is that Nigeria will need at tial to generate 12,522 MW of electric power
least $100bn in the next 10 years, and it will be from its existing sources, but only dispatches
very difficult for the government or the World around 4,000 MW per day.
Bank to plug that hole,” Khanna said, according The lack of reliable power is a significant
to This Day, a Nigerian newspaper. constraint for citizens and businesses, resulting
According to Khanna, Africa’s biggest econ- in annual economic losses estimated at $26.2bn
omy also has the largest energy access deficit (NGN10.1 trillion) in 2021, equivalent to about
in the world. Some 85mn Nigerians don’t have 2% of GDP.
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 25 23•June•2022
