Federal Government of Nigeria has officially handed over the completed and furnished Africa Energy Bank (AEB) complex to the leadership of Africa Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO) and African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Abuja.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who performed the task, noted during the handover ceremony organised by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) that it was in fulfillment of the earlier promise to ensure the take off of the bank latest by the end of April this year.
Lokpobiri told the APPO delegate led by its president, Mamadou Sangafowa Coulibaly, that Nigeria has met all the commitments with the handling over the bank.
“Nigeria is very happy to formally handover this AEB building to APPO and Afriximbank that are the enablers of the bank. We are willing and committed to doing everything we are expected to do for the bank to take off as scheduled at the end of April.
“All the issues delaying the take off have been sorted out and Nigeria is saying that it is committed to doing other things necessary because of the strategic importance of this bank to oil and gas investments in Africa,” he noted.
Bank to take off as scheduled at the end of April because all the issues delaying the take off have been sorted out and Nigeria is saying that it is committed to doing any other things necessary because of the strategic importance of this bank to oil and gas investments in Africa,” he noted.
Retrospecting on the journey that culminated in the establishment of the bank, further, Lokpobiri said: “Nigeria as a country has an obligation, when we were bidding for the host right, we made some commitments. Today is a confirmation that Nigeria has met all the obligations, financially and physically with the handing over of this Africa Energy Bank office to APPO and (Afreximbank) that are the enablers of the bank as our commitment when we were bidding for the APPO headquarters.
“All of us know that Africa’s biggest challenge is finance. The last global launch was using finance as a global weapon. You know that we are victims of global emissions and every time it is the campaign against us. But thank God that the same people talking against us concerning energy transition are the people signing different songs in the energy week.
“Thank God we have IEA that came up with abandoning Fossil fuel because we need investment as big as N700 billion every year for the next 25 years, otherwise the world will face energy crisis.
“We have said that Fossil fuel will be the most dominant energy in the future and Africa is blessed in abundance but finance is the only problem we have and that is why the idea of this bank was conceived.
“I thank God that we are where we are today. This bank will service not just 18 APPO member countries but will also service the entire continent. What this bank will be doing between now and the take off time is to follow the procedure which starts with the handing over the building to them to do what is done globally.
“It includes call shareholders meeting, appoint presidency of the bank, appoint the board, recruit staff and these things take little time. Today’s ceremony is very symbolic that Nigeria made a commitment and has fulfilled that commitment,” he said.
Thanking Nigeria for officially handing over the bank, APPO President said: “The importance of this bank to the continent cannot be overemphasized because we don’t want to outsource our sovereignty as a continent. We appreciate the government of Nigeria in this concern in terms of financial support and knowhow.”
“All the IEA members are very committed and I am very confident that everything we need for this bank to take off is already available thanks to the government of Nigeria. Please, extend our gratitude to the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu,” he said.
