International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, yesterday launched an initiative called ‘Lighting Africa Program’ to provide lighting in Nigeria, according to a piece of news published on their website.
The project will help improve and increase access to clean, affordable and safer lighting to over 30 percent of Nigeria’s population who live in the rural areas –and have no access to grid electricity and earn low incomes.
“The expansion of the Lighting Africa program to Nigeria supports the World Bank Group’s Energy Business Plan. Under the Energy Business Plan, each World Bank Group institution will leverage its competencies and products to provide solutions to projects that encourage their viability and contribute to the sustainability of Nigeria’s power sector to underpin the government’s ambitious privatization and reform program,” reads an excerpt from the report.
Lighting Africa is a key component of the Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP), an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial.
Eme Essien Lore, IFC Country Manager for Nigeria explains that: “Part of the World Bank Group’s targeted interventions in the power sector includes off-grid solutions that make access to power more inclusive. These solutions, mostly solar powered, will reduce the hazards of using fuel based energy resources, improve the climate and accelerate development in Nigeria”.
The Clean Energy Ministerial is a global forum where best practices are shared, and policies and programs encouraging and facilitating transition to a clean global energy economy are promoted.
