January 27, 2026 12:01 am
Two things made Nigeria’s attendance at this year’s Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week Summit very remarkable. One, it showed how the sequence of actions by Nigeria’s leader, President Bola Tinubu, undergirded his determination to pave a promising future for the country’s energy transition agenda.
Secondly, the fact of the President’s consistent attendance, which made it easy for him to attract the hosting of Investopia 2026 to Nigeria, and the unveiling of Nigeria’s Carbon Market Framework, combined to make the country the cynosure of all delegations at the seven-day event.
The Investopia, which is expected to be co-hosted by Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates, in Lagos in February this year, will showcase Nigeria as an investors’ haven, especially its pedigree as home to over 250 million people and Africa’s most populous nation. Buoyed by its significant population of well-educated youths and easy access to ECOWAS and the rest of Africa, Nigeria indeed is the go-to place as far as access to market and networking is concerned.
Although it came at a great personal cost, I was happy I made it to the Abu Dhabi meet, where the International Renewable Energy Agency Assembly preceded the talks on the Sustainability Week. As I sat through the President’s address, I quickly recalled his 2025 observations. The President had declared at the ADSW2025: “The fight against climate change is not merely an environmental necessity, but a global economic opportunity to reshape the trajectory of our continent and the global energy landscape.” Further, he stressed that “to succeed, we must innovate, collaborate and decisively collaborate as a global community”.
I recalled also how in the course of his inaugural address at Eagle Square, Abuja, on May 29, 2023, the President had stated: “Our government shall also work with the National Assembly to fashion an omnibus jobs and prosperity bill. This bill will give our administration the policy space to embark on labour-intensive infrastructural improvements, encourage light industry and provide improved social services for the poor, elderly and vulnerable.”
At every turn in the activities of the ADSW 2026, it was evident that President Tinubu’s consistent push for environmental renewal undergirded his belief that energy transition was the key to future prosperity.
That could explain why, during his 2024 budget speech in November 2023, he declared, “We have strategically made provisions to leverage private capital for big-ticket infrastructure projects in energy, transportation, and other sectors.
This marks a critical step towards diversifying our energy mix, enhancing efficiency and fostering the development of renewable energy sources…”
Of course, knowing that here was a President who signed into law the Electricity Bill barely eight days after taking office, made me recall the rigours the House of Representatives and I, under the efficient leadership of Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, went through to deliver Nigeria’s signature law, the Climate Change Act 2021.
So far, the Nigerian leader has continued to build on that foundation to catapult the country’s profile in the emerging global energy economy. And all that was shown during the ADSW 2026.
By assenting to the Electricity Act of 2023, the President dismantled decades of suffocating centralised control over power and invited states and the private sector to finally. It was the first tangible signal that this administration might approach its promises as a blueprint, not a bromide.
What is more, as Nigeria approached the COP28 climate summit, the directive to relevant agencies was sharp and singular: secure substantial international funding and partnerships to bolster the national energy transition plan. The mandate was to move from advocacy on the global stage to securing concrete, actionable commitments.
At the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, therefore, the President reinforced my conviction that Nigeria’s prosperity depends on a fundamental shift to clean, reliable energy. ADSW showed that indeed, the polished global conversation had finally moved from declarations to the gritty mechanics of delivery.
Verging on the core of this progressive conversation is the continuing search for how nations are building on their ambitious promises. Nigeria’s leader did not disappoint. President Tinubu was there live, not as a passive potentate, but as a leader actively involved and leading the charge, providing directions and proffering workable strategies.
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