Dike Onwuamaeze
The Managing Director of British American Tobacco (BAT) West and Central Africa, Mr. Yarub Al-Bahrani, has called for collaboration among stakeholders and predictable policy environment for Nigeria to unlock financing for energy transportation.
Al-Bahrani made the call this week during the Private Sector ESG Forum with the theme ‘Energy Security and Decarbonisation: Bridging the Gap for a Sustainable Future’.
He said, “To achieve meaningful change and transformative impact requires a whole of society approach.
“Governments and regulators, alongside private enterprise, must engage in structured and transparent dialogue that spearheads timely, meaningful and collective action.
“A key enabler of progress is a predictable and progressive policy environment, which is essential to unlock the significant capital investments required for this transition.”
He pointed out that the International Energy Agency (IEA) of Paris projected that private investments will need to account for approximately 60 per cent of the clean energy financing in emerging markets.
“But this capital will only flow to regions where frameworks are stable and sustainable.
We must therefore co-create reforms that act as growth levers, not roadblocks.
“This includes building industrial hubs where related businesses, suppliers, and services operate together, setting shared sustainability targets, and coordinating trade policies across West Africa.
“Only then can we attract the scale of investment and innovation required for a greener and more secure energy future,” Al-Bahrani said.
According to him, the challenges we face are immense, but so are the opportunities, adding that “achieving a sustainable future is not an option; it is essential. And we can build it – one solar panel at a time, one progressive policy at a time, through collective action.”
He said that bridging the gap for a sustainable future is more than just a discussion topic as it spotlighted one of the most defining challenges of our time.
He said: “It speaks to the critical balance we must strike: on one side, the urgent need for energy to power our growing industries, light our homes, and fuel our progress; on the other hand, a global need to heal and nurture our planet, to build resilience for generations to come.”
The External Affairs Director, BAT West and Central Africa & Chair, ESG Forum Technical Committee, Mrs. Odiri Erewa-Meggison, said that discussions at the ESG Forum reflected on how Africa can define its own path to sustainable growth.
Erewa-Meggison said that the message that echoed powerfully from the forum is that “Africa does not have to choose between powering growth and protecting the planet. But that we can, and we must, do both.”
She said that “our conversations have made it clear that the energy transition in Africa must be just, inclusive, and context-specific.
“It must consider the 600 million Africans who still lack electricity, the industries that fuel our economies, and the young innovators ready to power the next generation.
“Energy security is not a luxury; it is the foundation of opportunity, productivity, and human dignity.”
She, however, insisted that “our commitment to decarbonisation is non-negotiable” because “we have a responsibility to future generations to chart a low-carbon growth path, one that reduces emissions, fosters innovation, and creates green jobs.
“As Africa continues to industrialise, we must leverage technology, investment, and policy collaboration to ensure our progress is both sustainable and equitable.”
Speaking in the same vein on energy transportation, the Director General of National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Mrs. Tenioye Majekodunmi, said that collaboration from multiple fronts are needed to bridge the gap for sustainable future.
Majekodunmi said, “The energy transaction is not merely environmental an environmental agenda. It is an economic transformative agenda.”
She also invited the private sector not to see climate action as a cost but as an investment in resilience, competitiveness and well-being of generation to come.