General News
Rockefeller, Global Energy Alliance Cross $100 million Mark in Africa Electrification Push
The Rockefeller Foundation and the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet have crossed the $100 million threshold in funding for Mission 300, the World Bank and African Development Bank’s flagship effort to bring electricity to 300 million Africans by the end of the decade, a more than tenfold increase from their initial $10 million pledge made just 19 months ago.
The announcement, made at the Powering Africa Summit in Washington, underscores a deepening philanthropic bet on electricity access as the most direct lever for poverty reduction across sub-Saharan Africa, where an estimated 85 percent of the world’s 730 million people without power live.
Rajiv Shah, president of Rockefeller, disclosed during a fireside chat with U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a pairing that itself signalled the cross-partisan political currency that energy access has gained in development circles.
Shah framed the commitment in stark terms. “The Rockefeller Foundation has made its biggest-ever bet on connecting people to electricity as the single best pathway out of large-scale poverty,” he said.
The $100 million is split roughly 47 percent from Rockefeller and its public charity arm, RF Catalytic Capital, and 53 percent from the Global Energy Alliance.
The funding now spans 23 countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Mozambique.
From pledges to pipelines
Mission 300, launched by the World Bank and African Development Bank in April 2024, has signed National Energy Compacts with 30 countries to define investment targets and policy reforms. Since its inception, roughly 44 million people across Africa have been connected to electricity, with tens of millions more anticipated by the end of 2026.
The Rockefeller-Alliance capital has been deployed across several workstreams. A significant portion funds technical assistance to more than a dozen National Energy Compact Delivery and Monitoring Units, government bodies tasked with coordinating and tracking electrification progress, along with 18 Mission 300 Fellowships embedded within those units.
The initiative has also expanded a productive-use financing facility run jointly with CLASP that subsidises clean, energy-efficient appliances for small businesses and farmers, and has invested in Zafiri, Mission 300’s permanent capital fund, which provides patient equity into distributed renewable energy programs.
Clean cooking moves to centre stage
A notable addition to the agenda is clean cooking, a sector that has historically struggled to attract capital despite its enormous public health implications. Across sub-Saharan Africa, 70 percent of households rely on charcoal or wood for cooking, fuels linked to respiratory disease and deforestation. The alliance has launched a Clean Cooking Accelerator Initiative and is piloting a dedicated Clean Cooking Delivery Unit in Kenya as a potential continental model.
For development finance veterans, the $100 million figure matters less as a standalone number than as a signal to commercial investors.
Kevin Kariuki, vice president of the African Development Bank, said the philanthropic capital is designed explicitly to de-risk investments and “mobilise much larger flows of public and private finance.”
The initiative has already channelled funds through the World Bank’s DARES program in West and Central Africa and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa.
Woochong Um, CEO of Global Energy Alliance, stressed the focus on durable economic returns. “New electricity connections translate into durable economic opportunity for people and communities,” he said, pointing to productive-use programs as the mechanism for turning infrastructure into income.
According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, electricity access is the single strongest predictor of whether a household escapes extreme poverty, a data point that both the World Bank and its philanthropic partners have leaned on heavily to build the political case for Mission 300’s ambitious 2030 target.
Federal government recently received a proposed protocol agreement from India that could pave the way for agricultural cooperation between the two countries.
Abishek Singh, India’s high commissioner to Nigeria, announced the proposal recently n Abuja during the India-Nigeria Business Forum on Agriculture and Allied Sectors.
New Delhi’s proposed cooperation would support Nigeria’s food security efforts, with the goal of reducing post-harvest losses by nearly 50% and expanding agricultural processing.
It would also cover technology transfers, mechanization, financing solutions and capacity building.
Abuja has opened similar discussions with China.
Only recently, Mukhtar Muhammed, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, said Nigeria wanted to deepen scientific and technological cooperation with Beijing in agriculture.
The discussions with China have focused on developing low-cost, solar-powered cold storage facilities and transferring food-processing technologies.
Nigeria, also wants to work with Chinese research institutes to develop infrastructure that can improve the preservation of perishable products.
Nigeria’s outreach to its Asian partners addresses a major problem for the agricultural sector.
The Bank of Agriculture (BoA) estimates that Africa’s most populous country loses 30 million to 40 million tons of food each year before it reaches consumers.
Those losses are worth an average of about N3.5 trillion ($2.5 billion) annually, according to data the institution presented at a workshop in Kaduna in July 2026.
Perishable products are particularly vulnerable, according to local media reports, with fruits and vegetables accounting for an estimated 40% to 50% of total losses.
The government has already launched its own response to the problem.
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) indicted the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and other ministries over administrative lapses that allowed the fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) to operate.
Musa Aliyu, chairman, ICPC, stated that NITDA, alongside the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), the Budget Office, and other bodies, failed to carry out adequate due diligence and standard operating procedures.
ICPC said however, clarified that the findings pointed to severe internal control weaknesses and administrative negligence rather than active official complicity by NITDA and the other affected agencies.
The briefing followed a 30-day investigation ordered by the president on July 7 into allegations surrounding the purported presidential council.
The commission also cleared the presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of any wrongdoing but blamed institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Aliyu said investigators established that Adeniyi Adeyemi, the director-general, was never appointed by the federal government and that the PFIPC had no legal existence.
“As you may recall, on the 7th of July, Mr. President directed the ICPC to conduct an investigation into the fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and submit a report within 30 days,” he said.
“Today, exactly within the stipulated period, we have submitted an interim report based on our interactions with all stakeholders involved.”
According to Aliyu, Tinubu directed the commission to make its findings public in the interest of transparency and accountability.
He said the investigation found that Adeyemi’s purported appointment letter was forged.
“It has been established that Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was never appointed by the Federal Government or any authority whatsoever,” he said.
“The Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, which sometimes they called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, was never established by any law, executive order or any valid instrument of government.
“The appointment letter presented by Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was completely forged alongside similar documents used to perpetuate the illegal activities of the fake agency.”
Aliyu stated that a purported government gazette used to legitimise the organisation was also fabricated.
“If you recall, there was a gazette which he used to support the fake agency. That gazette is an illegal document that never passed through the processes prescribed by law,” he stated.
“Our investigation found that the office used by the fake agency was the office of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. The office was broken into and access was gained illegally. That was how he was able to operate from there.”
Aliyu also revealed that investigators uncovered two additional fictitious government agencies allegedly created by the suspect — the FCT Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency/Public-Private Partnership (FIPA-PPP).
According to him, fake legislative instruments were used to create the agencies and open bank accounts.
Despite the elaborate scheme, the ICPC chairman said the investigation found no evidence that federal government funds were disbursed to the fake council.
“Our investigation found that no funds of the federal government were approved or disbursed to the fake PFIPC,” he said.
“We also discovered no weaknesses in the systems of the State House or the Central Bank of Nigeria during our investigation. The fake appointment letter did not originate from the presidency.
“Our investigation found that some public officers failed to carry out due diligence and failed to comply with standard operating procedures in their ministries and departments. That gave him the opportunity to carry out these illegal acts.”
Nigeria tax system is build on taxing prosperity not poverty, according to Dr. Zacch Adedeji, executive chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
Dr. Zacch Adedeji, executive chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service
Adedeji, also dismissed the insinuation that the government’s tax reform is aimed at extracting money from Nigerians .
He said the essence of reform is creating an economic environment where individuals and businesses can prosper.
Dr. Adedeji made the clarifications on Sunday night while appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, where he defended the administration’s tax reforms and addressed concerns over rising government revenue amid the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
According to him, the government’s objective is to tax the fruits of investment rather than the investment itself.
“For us at Nigeria Tax, we are not there to extract. Our focus is not revenue. I don’t want to tax poverty. I’m to tax the fruit, not the seed, and I’m to tax the return, not investment.”
Adedeji explained that the government would generate more revenue as businesses became more profitable, without necessarily increasing the tax burden on individuals and companies.
He said a company that made N100 in profit could generate N30 in tax revenue for the government, but if its profit increased to N200 or N300, government revenue would rise accordingly.
“So, if I want to make more, I must work for you to make more. And that is why it is in the best interest of us in Nigeria Revenue Service that businesses are doing well, individuals are doing well,” he said.
He said the approach was consistent with President Bola Tinubu’s economic agenda, which seeks to remove barriers to investment and create a more conducive environment for businesses to operate and expand.
Adedeji cited reforms in the electricity sector as part of the government’s efforts to stimulate economic activity.
He noted that the Electricity Act had devolved powers to state governments to generate, transmit and distribute electricity, arguing that improved power supply would boost production and productivity across the economy.
Affordable, Flexible Streaming Platforms May Kill PAYtv – Report
FG Suspends NAICOM’s N680m Insurance Recapitalisation Fees
FG Taps Indian, Chinese Technologies to Tackle $2.5Bn in Food Losses
MTN Nigeria Clocks 25, Connects over 90m People
Subscribers to Seek Legal Redress if Poor Quality of Service Continue in September
EFCC Busts NIS Visa Overstay Racket, Uncovers N700m in an Account
Fact-Check: Elon Musk’s “Tesla Pi Phone” is Internet Rumor
NBC Tasks Broadcasting Stations over 2028 DSO Global Deadline
NBC Scraps Annual Digital Access Fee on DSO
Glo Sponsored African Voices to Feature Netflix’s “The Polygamist” Stars
E-Business2 days agoX Replaces Revenue Sharing wit New Creator Rewards Programme
Telecom2 days agoMTN Alerts Subscribers over Fake 25GB Anniversary MTN Data Giveaway
E-Financial2 days agoInterswitch, Temenos Commit to Advancing Nigeria’s Digital Banking Technology
General News2 days agoFake Agency: ICPC Indicts NITDA, Others over Inadequate Due Diligence
E-Financial2 days agoFG Spent N3.1 Trillion on Domestic Debt Servicing in Q1- DMO
General News2 days agoUNESCO Taps Oguamanam,Nigerian Scholar to Advisory Body on Science, Tech Ethics
General News2 days agoTax Reform Built on Taxing Prosperity, Not Poverty– Adedeji
Broadcasting2 days agoAwba-Ofemili Unveils 2026 Health Campaign, Offers Free Medical Screening