The Federal Government announced on Thursday, July 4 that Nigeria has been granted the hosting rights for the $5bn African Energy Bank. It said the right was granted during a virtual meeting of the Council of Ministers of the African Petroleum Producers Organisation, (APPO), adding that with the hosting right, the bank would have its headquarters in Nigeria.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who announced this in Abuja, said Nigeria emerged as the preferred host nation amid stiff competition from Ghana, Benin Republic, Algeria, South Africa, and Cote D’Ivoire.
Senator Heineken Lokpobiri has admitted that one of the biggest challenges Oil producing countries have in Africa, is funding. This is why the Council of Ministers held a meeting recently and said the time has come for Africa to find solutions to financing its oil and gas investments. Based on that, the idea of the African Energy Bank was birthed.
The Minister said “I want to specifically thank the President who gave us the full support to ensure that we get to this point where APPO has given us the hosting right for the African Energy Bank. This is not going to be a bank for Nigeria alone, but a bank for the entire African continent.”
Lokpobiri has explained that the African Energy Bank would be instrumental in providing the necessary financial backbone for energy projects that would drive growth and development across the continent. He also said the selection highlights Nigeria’s robust energy sector and its strategic vision for the continent’s energy future, as he assured Nigerians and Africans at large, that the establishment of the bank would mark a transformative era in meeting energy needs.
