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By Bianca Iboma -Emefu
Nigeria has taken a significant step to address its longstanding power deficit with the official launch of the Green Finance and Investment Facility (GFIF), which was held in Lagos.
The platform aims to channel up to $40 billion in blended public and private finance over the next decade to develop 20 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, potentially improving electricity access for an estimated 75 million Nigerians.
The GFIF, developed by transaction advisory firm Barton Heyman Limited in collaboration with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) and supported by UK funding through the UK PACT programme, brings together project developers, equity investors, debt financiers, and guarantee providers.
Its core innovation lies in addressing a persistent bottleneck: viable renewable projects often stall not because they lack merit, but because each financier demands separate, costly due diligence.
At the official launch, Senior Partner at Barton Heyman Limited, Anthony Feyitimi said: “It’s not that the projects are not bankable — it’s that nobody has taken the time to certify that they are bankable. The platform introduces standardised templates, procedures, and a collaborative ‘one-roof’ approach to de-risk projects and accelerate financing.”
Feyitimi stated that the GFIF does not start from zero. It builds on roughly $1.3 billion in prior concessional funding, including $550 million from the NEP1 and NEP2 programmes and $750 million from the World Bank’s Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES/DES) project.
He views this capital as critical de-risking money intended to crowd in much larger volumes of private investments. He was candid about scale: “$1.3 billion is exactly one gigawatt, if you do it very well.”
The firm stressed that Nigeria requires a minimum of 100GW of total installed capacity to function as a serious industrial economy — making the 20GW renewable target, while ambitious on paper, potentially insufficient for the country’s needs.
Feyitimi recalled a memorable moment he shared at the event involving a conversation he had with an Indian counterpart. When a Nigerian official outlined plans for 20GW of renewables over 10 years, the Indian’s response was simple: “Is that easy?”
The question, far from dismissive, highlighted a stark perceptual gap. In India’s context of massive energy builds, 20GW sounded modest. For Nigeria, where Lagos alone is estimated to rely on roughly 40GW of fragmented, privately-generated power (often from costly diesel generators), the exchange became a catalyst for bolder thinking.
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“That one question has stuck with me for the last six months,” Feyitimi recounted. “It was not an insult. It was a shock.”
The immediate focus is on piloting the model with developers holding the largest awards under the DES programme. However, the GFIF is not restricted to government schemes; it is open to any bankable structure that can attract private capital.
Organisers emphasised speed, saying: “At the end of the conversations we have today, the next step is to go into detail with qualified parties and finance transactions within days. Developers ready to move urgently will be prioritised.”
Success will be measured not only in gigawatts but in human impact. The initial DES-backed projects alone are expected to deliver improved electricity access to 1.2 million Nigerians, serving as “shining lights” of what is possible.
Managing Partner at Barton Heyman, Olumide Lala, framed the GFIF as purpose-built architecture: “The idea is that de-risking public funds makes private capital want to play in the energy space. Once you de-risk, debt and equity find it easier to come into the room and take their position.”
One of the keynote speakers at the event and Managing Director, Rural Electrification Agency, Dr. Abba Aliyu, presented a paper titled,’ Financing Nigeria’s Future at Scale: The GFIF as a Replica Model.
Aliyu stated that the platform is a blended finance initiative designed to leverage REA’s project pipeline and result based financing mechanisms to capitalize capital at national scale.
Senior Vice President/Divisional Head, Business Banking at First City Monument Bank, George Ogbonnaya presented a paper on,’ Role and Importance of Structured Financing for the Renewable Energy Sector. Also, Chief Investment Officer ARMHIIL, Derek Chime, gave insight on equity co-investment rationale and commitment to the developer community.
Meanwhile, Deputy British High Commissioner, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Mr Jonny Baxter, emphasized that the UK government is committed to Nigeria’s energy transition through UK Pact, the global evidence based for results financing and GFIF pilot as a model for replication across emerging markets.
Special Adviser on Climate Change and Circular Economy to the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Oshodi commended the initiative stressing that with the platform now open, the message from Lagos was clear: the groundwork is done, the architecture is in place, and the race to close Nigeria’s energy gap has entered a new, more collaborative phase.
Whether the 20GW target proves transformative or merely a starting point will depend on how quickly capital and projects align in the months ahead.
