Faced with a population boom that has sent carbon emissions soaring and stretched power supplies to breaking point, oil-rich Nigeria is turning to renewable energy in a big way.
Africa's most populous country needs more than 10 times its current electricity output to guarantee supply for its 198 million people - nearly half of whom have no access at all, according to power minister Babatunde Fashola.
Campaigners welcome the shift to renewables as an efficient way to bring power to rural communities and help clean up a country with some of the world's worst urban pollution rates.
"Ready access to electricity will reduce youth unemployment and increase productivity," said Ifeoma Malo, Nigeria country director at the global campaign group Power For All.
"It will contribute greatly to reducing the carbon footprint of a growing energy demand by the urban population."
Nigeria has set a target of expanding electricity access to 75 per cent of the population by 2020 and 90 per cent by 2030.
It aims to generate 30 per cent of its total energy from renewable sources by 2030, Mr Fashola said, a major commitment for an economy that depends heavily on fossil fuels.
Oil and gas production account for around 35 per cent of Nigeria's gross domestic product and about 90 per cent of total exports revenue, according to Opec.
Over the past year, the country has invested more than $20 billion in solar power projects, seeking to boost the capacity of the national grid and reduce reliance on it by building mini-grids in rural areas without mains electricity.
Just one in four people in rural Nigeria is connected to the national grid, adding to a trend of outward migration that is piling pressure on Nigeria's already overburdened cities.
Power demand in Nigeria's largest city Lagos vastly outstrips supply, meaning its 25 million residents must either go without, or rely on expensive, fume-belching generators.
In January the country suffered six power outages in just eight days as the national grid repeatedly collapsed under the strain, plunging most of the country into darkness.
Urbanisation and rapid population growth will only add to the problem - Nigeria’s population is projected to swell from 198 to 411 million by 2050, and more and more people are moving to its cities.
By the start of 2020, demand for energy is forecast to be more than double its early 2018 levels.
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Nigeria currently has the capacity to produce an estimated 7,000 megawatts (MW) of power, but due to weak infrastructure, gas supply problems and water shortages only about 4,000 MW reaches the national grid, according to Fashola.
The government is investing in hydropower, with several projects close to completion.
The largest is the Mambilla Power Station in central Nigeria, a $5.79bn project due to be completed in 2024 with most of the financing coming from Chinese lenders.
It will be able to generate 3,050 MW of renewable energy in the rural region, and is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
Given the country's climate though, most of the focus is on generating solar power.
A $350 million World Bank loan will be used to build 10,000 solar-powered mini-grids by 2023 in rural areas, bringing power to hospitals, schools and households, said Damilola Ogunbiyi, managing director of the Rural Electrification Agency.
One of these projects, Sabon Gari, aims to generate between 1MW and 4MW of solar energy for 12,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria’s second largest city, Kano, by the end of the year.
The chief executive of the energy company behind the project, Rensource, said companies' energy costs had fallen at least 30 per cent since they started using the solar grids.
"Up until now, the entire market has been powered by a network of small-scale, dirty, unhealthy generators that are also quite expensive," said Ademola Adesina.
"We are replacing those generators with a network of solar hybrid systems that are powering the entire market."
Rensource hopes to expand to rural areas, where the World Bank estimates 80 million Nigerians live without electricity.
Mr Malo said small-scale projects such as these offered the best chance of bringing power to remote areas.
"The Rural Electrification Agency realises that the traditional, public-sector-led grid extension system will not meet the demands of the growing population," he said.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
PSG's line up
GK: Alphonse Areola (youth academy)
Defence - RB: Dani Alves (free transfer); CB: Marquinhos (€31.4 million); CB: Thiago Silva (€42m); LB: Layvin Kurzawa (€23m)
Midfield - Angel di Maria (€47m); Adrien Rabiot (youth academy); Marco Verratti (€12m)
Forwards - Neymar (€222m); Edinson Cavani (€63m); Kylian Mbappe (initial: loan; to buy: €180m)
Total cost: €440.4m (€620.4m if Mbappe makes permanent move)
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Belong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Michael%20Askew%20and%20Matthew%20Gaziano%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243.5%20million%20from%20crowd%20funding%20and%20angel%20investors%3Cstrong%3E%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20OneOrder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tamer%20Amer%20and%20Karim%20Maurice%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E82%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Series%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
Courses%20at%20Istituto%20Marangoni%2C%20Dubai
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