Policy Flip-Flops Halt Major Power Investments for 11 Years, Nnaji Warns

At the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics conference in Lagos, former minister Barth Nnaji lamented that Nigeria has not financed a new major power plant since 2015. He blamed the abrupt end of a government-backed partial risk guarantee instrument that had attracted global capital to projects like Azura Edo. Nnaji highlighted policy inconsistency and weak infrastructure as key barriers. He urged a realistic energy transition that leverages Nigeria’s vast natural gas reserves and pointed to Europe’s return to coal amid the Russia-Ukraine war as a cautionary example. Hassan Mahmud, president of the association, stressed that execution rather than resource scarcity is Africa’s main challenge. He noted Nigeria’s 13,000 MW capacity often falls to 5,000 MW due to gas shortages and infrastructure gaps, and called for $100 billion in annual investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.

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