Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, PhD, CFR, told global investors in London that Nigeria’s green transition is already creating practical and immediate opportunities across energy, agriculture, transport, and climate-resilient infrastructure.
Speaking Tuesday at the Nigeria Climate Investment Summit during London Climate Action Week, Kalu delivered a keynote themed “Catalyzing Nigeria’s Climate Policy Progress into Financial Flows for Green Projects.” He stressed that the country is ready to turn climate policy into bankable projects that deliver both returns and impact.
Kalu outlined specific sectors open for investment. These include distributed renewable energy, solar mini-grids, battery storage, clean cooking solutions, transmission and distribution upgrades, and industrial energy efficiency. He said each offers scalable solutions for Nigeria’s energy access gap. 
On agriculture and food systems, the Deputy Speaker pointed to climate-smart farming, irrigation, cold-chain logistics, food processing, and resilient rural infrastructure. Investments here, he noted, can boost food security while lifting incomes for millions of Nigerians.
Other priority areas are electric mobility, mass transit, low-carbon urban transport, waste-to-value systems, methane reduction, circular-economy enterprises, and green manufacturing. Kalu emphasized these sectors align with Nigeria’s push for jobs and sustainable growth.
Adaptation is equally urgent, Kalu said. He cited flood-control systems, resilient drainage, coastal protection, nature-based solutions, and climate-resilient housing as critical to shielding communities and assets from extreme weather, land degradation, and climate displacement.
“Nigeria’s green transition must be a just transition,” Kalu stated. “It must expand access to affordable energy, create decent work, support communities, equip young people with new skills, promote women’s participation in the green economy, and ensure that no region or social group is left behind.”
Kalu tied climate investment to wider economic reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He noted that fuel subsidy removal has redirected funds to infrastructure and doubled 2025 government revenues to over ₦28.3 trillion. FX market unification has also cut arbitrage, boosted liquidity, and lifted investor confidence.
Legal certainty, he added, is anchored by the Climate Change Act and the Electricity Act. The former enables carbon budgeting, emissions reporting, and market mechanisms. The latter decentralizes power, letting states like Lagos drive green investment through local projects, procurement, and private-sector partnerships.
To move from talk to action, Kalu proposed a structured Nigeria-London Green Finance Partnership. Its goals: build an investor-ready pipeline across clean energy, transport, agriculture, and circular economy projects, and create a platform to take viable concepts to bankability. He called for blended finance, green guarantees, first-loss facilities, political risk insurance, and local-currency financing to lower capital costs and draw in pension funds, insurers, banks, DFIs, and philanthropic capital.
