NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Nigeria is seeking to collaborate with India to accelerate its energy transition plans, a senior Nigerian government official said on Tuesday.
Other than funding, Nigeria plans to seek technical assistance from India to implement its green energy plans, Agbu Kefas, governor of Nigeria’s Taraba state, told Reuters on the sidelines of the India Energy Week.
“(The) world is moving towards green energy and we also have to move along. But the challenges we have is the funding to be able to meet up with this,” Kefas said.
India is ramping up its non-fossil fuel capacity, planning to connect a record 35 gigawatts of solar and wind energy capacity to its grid during the fiscal year ending March 2025.
Nigeria has already urged the United States to provide it with funding to help Africa’s leading oil producer accelerate its energy transition plans.
Kefas said alternative energy is also the solution for communities that have been unable to connect to the national grid.
Nigeria’s power grid often suffers from frequent failures due to ageing infrastructure, under-investment and vandalism, resulting in frequent blackouts.
(Reporting by Mrinalika Roy; writing by Mayank Bhardwaj, Editing by William Maclean)
