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AfDB, World Bank Collaborate to Transform Africa’s Energy Access, Connect 300 million by 2030

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Connecting 300 million Africans to electricity within the next five years is within reach through collaborative effort and commitment to implementation, participants at the Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, heard on Monday.

The summit is organized by the Government of Tanzania and Mission 300, an unprecedented collaboration between the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank Group and global partners to address Africa’s electricity access gap using new technology and innovative financing.

Nearly 600 million Africans lack electricity, a critical resource for economic development and job creation.

Speaking during the first panel discussion of the opening day of the two-day Summit, African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi Adesina set the summit’s tone of action and implementation, emphasizing practical solutions to achieve the ambitious goal, from regulatory reforms to private sector engagement.

He called for active involvement from a wide range of stakeholders, including bilateral and multilateral institutions, private sector entities, civil society organizations, and foundations.

“This is mission critical… Our mission here is to say we need everybody… It’s not about us, it’s about those who are not here, and we must listen and hear and make sure this is an action-driven summit… We can’t do Mickey Mouse business…

“We can’t have a situation where Africa does not have enough electricity,” Adesina told the audience, which included several African energy ministers, international development partners and private sector titans, civil society organizations, and foundations, attending the first day of the summit.

The second day of the summit will see the participation of several heads of state from across Africa, who will join more than 1,500 other participants. Together they will chart Africa’s course toward universal access to energy.

“We have a clear path to reaching these 300 million people,” Dr. Adesina stressed, distinguishing the initiative from previous efforts. He emphasized that the program seeks to transform Africa’s vast potential into reality through comprehensive electrification.

“With power, Africa will not just meet expectations but exceed them, becoming a competitive and prosperous continent,” he added.

Mission 300 will incorporate robust accountability measures, including country-specific monitoring and evaluation systems and the Africa Energy Regulatory Index to track progress. “This is all about accountability, transparency, and delivery while letting Africa develop with pride,” Adesina stated.

Adesina highlighted the devastating toll of traditional cooking methods based on firewood and charcoal, resulting in the death of 600,000 women and children annually due to smoke exposure.

The crisis extends beyond energy access, affecting environmental sustainability through deforestation and biodiversity loss. “It’s not just about energy transition,” Adesina said. “This is about dignity. Africa must develop with dignity and pride, and access to clean cooking solutions is fundamental to achieving this goal.” He praised Tanzania for developing a comprehensive national strategy to address this issue.

World Bank Group President Ajay Banga expressed optimism about the initiative, saying its ambitious objectives are achievable through hard work, particularly in ensuring a conducive environment for the private sector to participate. He emphasized the need for predictability of currencies, regulatory frameworks and land acquisition to incentivize investments supporting Mission 300.

In his remarks, Rajiv Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation, called global philanthropists to support the initiative.

“Please join us in getting behind the ideas of this initiative and the country compacts that the leaders will be signing. What is at stake is the future of African economies, the future of African young people, and the future of our world,” he said, adding that his foundation was committing $65 million to the program.

Speaking after the fireside chat, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed emphasized that energy access is not merely about power delivery, but about what that power will connect and enable.

“It is important that we see food systems at the helm of all of this, and that they are powered by the energy that you will connect,” she stated.

Mohammed explained how energy connectivity would catalyze transformative change in rural communities, particularly for women and youth, through access to digital financial services, online education, and e-commerce opportunities.

However, she stressed that realizing these ambitions would require significant financial engineering and private sector engagement. “The private sector’s got to lean in and it won’t lean in if the message is that your finance environment is not conducive to us,” she noted, calling for reforms in credit rating systems and financial architecture.

“When you want to put together the financing for energy it is not easy and it requires many people at the table in parallel with what we are doing, the policy and the regulation, designing these pipelines and getting the money ready.”

The summit is expected to yield two significant outcomes: the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration, outlining commitments and practical actions from African governments to reform the energy sector, and the first set of National Energy Compacts, which will serve as blueprints with country-specific targets and timelines for implementation of critical reforms.


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Nigeria’s BNPL Market is Projected to Value @ $2.6B by 2030

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Nigeria’s Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) market is on a fast-growing trajectory and is predicted to be valued $2.61 billion by 2030, up 83% from $1.42 billion in 2024, owing primarily to the rapid emergence of fintechs in the country.

This observation was stated in EnterpriseNGR’s State of Enterprise 2025 report, which focuses on how fintechs are reshaping Nigeria’s business landscape through digital innovations, accessible credit systems, and mobile-first financial tools.

As a credit system, BNPL allows users to stagger payments for products and services, making it a key development driver in Nigeria’s developing digital economy.

From 2021 to 2024, the BNPL experienced a compounded annual growth rate of 23.1%. Fintechs have contributed to the rapid growth by providing a range of flexible loan alternatives for e-commerce, retail, and services, bridging financial gaps for millions of disadvantaged Nigerians.

The report highlights how fintechs have contributed to Nigeria’s flexibility and resiliency by simplifying digital payments, automating invoicing and payroll systems, and democratising credit through platforms such as Renmoney and FairMoney.

The report also shows a significant rise in remittance inflows into Nigeria following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2024 policy adjustments.

According to the report, by 2024, Nigeria boasted over 400 licensed digital lenders who extend collateral-free credit to those commonly excluded by banks.


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FG, Netherlands Partner on Digital Migration for NIS

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The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) strengthened bilateral relations with the Netherlands’ government through an agreement targeted at improving migration governance and border security.

This partnership was confirmed during a meeting at the NIS headquarters in Abuja, which was attended by a Dutch team led by Jurgen Bartelink, Chargé D’Affaires of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Nigeria.

The meeting focused on increasing bilateral migration cooperation and came after the comptroller general of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, paid a working visit to the Netherlands.

Under the agreement, the Dutch government pledged to continue supporting technology-driven solutions targeted at boosting Nigeria’s border control systems and improving migration management.

During the Netherlands Embassy diplomats handed over essential operational tools, such as Edison Software licence keys and the Passport Examination Programme Manual App.

According to NIS spokeswoman ACI Akinsola Akinlabi, “The partnership focuses on enhancing bilateral collaboration on migration management and reviewing ongoing capacity-building efforts.”

Bartelink, Chargé d’Affaires of the Netherlands Embassy in Nigeria, underlined the Netherlands’ commitment to helping Nigeria’s continuing border security and migration reforms.

Also speaking, Rob Bokhoven, head of international affairs, repatriation, and deportation services at the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security, emphasised the country’s strong bilateral relations and announced plans to share a mobile border software solution with the NIS.

Receiving the equipment, Nandap said the delivery of the gadgets would boost West African country’s border security, significantly improve the service’s document verification border management capabilities and support the implementation of Nigeria’s National Migration Policy.

“The engagement will further reinforce the strategic partnership between Nigeria and the Netherlands advancing shared goals in migration governance, border security and international cooperation,” she added.


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AfDB Cuts Nigeria’s Growth Projection to 3.2%

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Peter Enogb, principal country economist, African Development Bank (AfDB), says the rise in global uncertainty, emanating from increases in global trade tariffs, has slowed Nigeria’s projected growth to 3.2% in 2025.

“Without this level of heightened uncertainty, our projections would probably have been somewhat higher. We’ve reduced our projections for Nigeria. We initially were projecting 3.5% – 3.6% growth in 2025.

“But given the current situation, our models are showing that we’re taking a more cautious approach. So that’s why we produced this and, of course, the main driver is uncertainty in the global economy,” Enogb said.

He said this at the launch of the 2025 Nigeria Country Focus Report (CFR) on Thursday.

AFDB projected that real GDP growth would hit 3.1% in 2026. Following the 2024 consumer price index (CPI) rebasing, with lower weights for food items, the inflation rate is expected to reduce over the medium term to 24.7% in 2025 and 17.3% in 2026.

As imports start to rise over the medium term, the current account is projected to decline to 3.9% of GDP in 2026.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria’s headline inflation slowed for the second consecutive month to 22.97% in May. This is down from 24.48% at the start of the year

This is contrary to the World Bank projection that Nigeria’s economy would record steady growth of 3.6% despite the shift in the global trade dynamics.

Joseph Ogebe, head of research and development at Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), also said that global uncertainty had been very high in recent times, resulting from the Trump 2.0 effect.

“And also with the recent war between Israel and the international community, we’ve seen what’s happening to oil prices. Even with the call-off of the war, we’ve seen the effect on oil prices too, which has implications on the fiscal side. So it has implications for the general economy,” he said.

The head of research at NESG said that rather than focusing on just growth, what should be looked at is a strategy called growth with depth.

“Growth with depth means that your growth must be diversified, export-led, productive, and technologically driven,” he said.

Ogebe said that if the Government works towards adopting a strategy of growth with depth, there is a tendency for the government to move towards its goal of achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The report revealed that the country’s recent policy moves, including fuel subsidy removal, exchange rate unification, and tax reforms, reflect a commitment to long-term transformation.

However, it also pointed out that at about 13%, Nigeria’s tax-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest in West Africa, noting that fiscal reforms are urgent.


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