Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has said the country needs to spend about $10 million (N4.310 billion) annually to achieve net zero emission by the year 2060, citing the recently launched Energy Transition Plan (ETP).
Speaking at a dinner to mark the 60th anniversary of the Oil Producing Trade Group (OPTS) of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos, the vice president urged International Oil Companies (IOCs) working in Nigeria to consider investing more in renewable energy plants as against fossil fuels.
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The 29-member group has 21 indigenous producers who are homegrown.
Osinbajo said for Nigeria to fully transition to green energy, it would need over $400m or $10m annually.
The vice president anchored his projection on certain key objectives which include lifting 100 million people out of poverty in a decade, and bringing modern energy services to the full population, among others.
He said these would also help to facilitate the establishment of base energy capacity and address the issue of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
“Gas is, of course, critical to integrating a greater share of renewable energy in the country’s energy mix. Also, natural gas, methane, is an important chemical of its own, especially for the production of ammonia for fertilizers,” he added.
The OPTS Chairman, Ricky Kennedy, said members of the trade group had created over 600,000 direct and indirect jobs for Nigerians within the past 60 years.
Kennedy, who was represented by the Chairman of Shell’s Group of Companies in Nigeria, Osagie Okunbor, said: “Over the last decade, OPTS member companies accounted for 40-60 per cent of government revenue and 85 to 95 per cent of export earnings. OPTS member companies are also proud to have paid tens of billions of dollars in taxes, levies, royalties, rents, and license fees to the Nigerian government.”
