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Nigeria Needs N2trn To Achieve Net Zero Emissions By 2060 – Energy experts

Published

2 years ago

August 27, 2023

Energy experts at the weekend said Nigeria needs no less than N1.9 trillion to successfully implement an Net Zero Emissions plan under the Nigerian Energy Transition Plan (ETP).

They stated this at the 85th Power Dialogue organised by The Electricity Hub, TEH, in Abuja, with the themes – ‘Analyzing the Nigerian Energy Transition Plan’ – and ‘Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan: Reforms and Implementation.’

They contended that the ETP would remain just a plan if a feasible pathway is not evolved, especially as the challenge of financing gas initiatives has emerged due to the plan.

The panellists at the session noted that by 2040, there will be a significant shift in the gas utilization portfolio, which implies that Nigeria will focus on the domestic sector as the global market diminishes.

However, the role of gas is envisioned as the transition fuel because of its abundant availability whereas Nigeria presently exports around 14% of LNG gas to the European Union, the dialogue noted.

A statement issued by TEH after the session said, “one prominent hindrance to our gas development lies in natural gas pricing within the domestic economy.

“Particularly, the gas allocated to the power sector is traded at deregulated rates within the industry. This occurs unless an interested buyer or seller is identified. Regrettably, the advantages of this often remain underutilized.”

The panelists include special energy experts from the energy sector, including Zira John Quaghe, serving as Nigeria’s Focal Person at The African Climate Foundation; Jennifer Ifeanyi-Okoro, the Vice President of Public Policy at Sun King; Charles Majomi, a Partner specializing in Gas and Energy Transition at The Nextier Group; and Chibuikem Agbaegbu, the Program Manager at Nigeria Off-Grid Market Accelerator, who was the Moderator.

Jennifer Ifeanyi Okoro, who discussed the strategies and targets involved in the energy transition pathway, stated that one important strategy used to connect to many people is the affordability of the products because the company targets mostly the poor.

She buttressed her point with some achievements recorded by Sun King (an off-grid solar company).

According to Okoro, “about N1.9 trillion is needed for Nigeria to get to Net Zero in 2060, which is a lot of money”.

She pointed out the most difficult challenge in the Energy Transition Plan is sheer poverty, arguing that unless “we proffer solutions to Nigeria’s basic needs, such as housing, access to clean water and energy, food, education and more, the Net Zero will continue to elude us for a sustainable future”.

Zira John Quaghe highlighted the climate goals and how the energy transition fits in. He highlighted major factors for the energy transition plan and stated points that referred to accountability mechanisms.

He explained that there are five countries gearing towards achieving the Net Zero plan, and Nigeria isn’t part of those countries.

Zira explained the climate finance market strategies from the philanthropy point of view, pointing out how philanthropy can help to align budgetary and physical planning. He also stated how Nigeria could improve its quality of climate change discourse.

Charles Majomi stated that one of the gas stories is that Nigerians refuse to accept the fact that adding value to gas enhances socio-economic welfare.

He noted that how Nigeria had lost the opportunity to leverage gas as its primary resource, stressing that the key element of the Energy Transition plan is the transition away from dirty fuels. Therefore, he emphasized that gas will continue to be used productively as an export resource.

Nonetheless, the experts concluded that energy transitioning is an intensive task, that has to be gradual and intentional to ensure continual improvement and sustainability.

Even at that, Nigeria which has abundant resources to transition to Net-Zero, needs the right policies, plans and strategies incorporation with regulations, otherwise, it will keep revolving in the circle of carbon emissions.
VANGUARD

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Serbia Indicts Ex-minister, 12 Others Over Train Station Tragedy

Published

15 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Serbian prosecutors filed an updated indictment on Tuesday against 13 people, including a former minister, over a fatal railway station roof collapse that has triggered a wave of anti-government protests.

The prosecution said all those indicted, among them former construction minister Goran Vesic, face charges of “serious crimes against public safety” over the tragedy that killed 16 people last November.

“The indictment proposes that the Higher Court in Novi Sad order custody for all the defendants,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The roof collapse at the newly renovated station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, became a symbol of entrenched corruption and sparked almost daily protests.

Protesters first demanded a transparent investigation, but their calls soon escalated into demands for early elections.

The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad initially filed an indictment at the end of December, but judges returned it in April, requesting more information.

The accused were released or placed under house arrest following the decision.

The prosecutor’s office said it had complied with the judge’s request and had now completed the supplementary investigation.

The prosecutor specialising in organised crime and corruption in Belgrade is leading a separate, independent investigation into the tragedy.

That investigation is focused on 13 people, including Vesic and another former minister, Tomislav Momirovic, who headed the Construction Ministry before him.

In March, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) launched a third, separate investigation into the possible misuse of EU funds for the station’s reconstruction.

AFP

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Kazakhstan Bans Forced Marriage, Bride Kidnapping

Published

15 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Kazakhstan has banned forced marriages and bride kidnappings through a law that came into effect Tuesday in the Central Asian country, where the practice persists despite new attention being paid to women’s rights.

Forcing someone to marry is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison, Kazakh police said in a statement.

“These changes are aimed at preventing forced marriages and protecting vulnerable categories of citizens, especially women and adolescents,” it added.

Bride kidnappings have also been outlawed.

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“Previously, a person who voluntarily released a kidnapped person could expect to be released from criminal liability. Now this possibility has been eliminated,” the police said.

There are no reliable statistics of forced marriage cases across the country, with no separate article in the criminal code prohibiting it until now.

A Kazakh lawmaker said earlier this year that the police had received 214 such complaints over the past three years.

The custom is also present in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, where it mostly goes unpunished due to indifferent law enforcement and stigma surrounding whistleblowers.

The issue of women’s rights in Kazakhstan gained media attention in 2023 following the murder of a woman by her husband, a former minister, a case that shocked Kazakh society and prompted President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to react.

“Some people hide behind so-called traditions and try to impose the practice of wife stealing. This blatant obscurantism cannot be justified,” Tokayev said last year.

AFP

Headline

Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway

Published

15 hours ago

September 16, 2025

Editor

Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday it had arrested a woman in her fifties accused of detonating explosives in a bid to sabotage the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence, the FSB said, in the latest incident of alleged covert activity during the countries’ conflict.

“In August 2025, following the instructions provided by the adversary, the suspect manufactured a homemade explosive device from publicly available components, placed it on the railway tracks and triggered it,” the Russian agency said.

“She recorded the moment of the explosion on her mobile phone camera and sent the footage as a report to the handler to receive a reward.”

The statement did not name the suspect but said she was born in 1974 and carried out the alleged attack in eastern Siberia’s Zabaikalsky region.

The FSB warned Russians that it was monitoring social networks and online messenger services such as Telegram and WhatsApp for evidence of Ukrainian services recruiting Russians to carry out sabotage.

Separately, the agency told state news agency TASS that a man had been sentenced to 18 years and six months for transporting explosives on behalf of a “pro-Ukrainian” group.

A resident of the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine, had, the FSB said, established contact through the Telegram app with a banned “terrorist organisation”.

He allegedly retrieved explosives from a cache on the orders of this group before waiting for “further instructions”, according to the same source cited by TASS.

He was jailed by a military tribunal.

AFP