Nigeria has been chosen to host the all-new Africa Energy Bank as announced by its Oil Minister. Africa’s top oil producer beat three rival countries for rights to the multilateral lender.
“This decision reflects our collective ambition to create African solutions to African energy challenges,” Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil) said. “The African Energy Bank will be instrumental in providing the necessary financial backbone for energy projects that will drive growth and development across the continent,” he added.
“Hosting the bank would be a vote of confidence in Nigeria at a time its energy industry badly needs a boost,” Clementine Wallop, director for sub-Saharan Africa at political risk consultancy Horizon Engage, said before the announcement was made.
The three other countries that vied to host the AEB are Algeria, Benin, and Ghana after Ivory Coast and South Africa didn’t meet the requirements. After ratifying the bank’s charter and President Bola Tinubu approved an investment of $100 million, surpassing the needed $83.33 million for member nations, Nigeria’s quest to host the AEB was reinforced in late May.