Nigeria to issue N250 billion Green Bond in October 2025

From Adetutu Folasade-Koyi and Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

The Federal Government plans to issue a N250 billion Sovereign Green Bond in October 2025, with a N50 billion bond scheduled for late May, Environment Minister Balarabe Abbas Lawal announced at the eighth Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja.

Nigeria, the first African nation to launch a Sovereign Green Bond (N10 billion in 2017), issued a second N15 billion bond in 2019. The 2025 issuances, coordinated by the Debt Management Office (DMO), will fund clean energy, sustainable agriculture, afforestation, and transport projects aligned with Nigeria’s Paris Agreement commitments.

Lawal highlighted environmental initiatives, including resolving a four-year gas flare damaging ecosystems: “Before we came, the gas was burning for four years. Four years! That fire had been burning, destroying the ecosystem, destroying the livelihood of the people of that area.” He emphasised rigorous environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for all projects: “No government ministry or department can undertake any project without going through a year ahead.”

The minister detailed the West Africa Coastal Areas (WACA) programme, a World Bank-supported initiative aiding Nigeria’s seven coastal states against erosion and flooding, and the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, enhancing capacity for sustainable practices. He also noted a bamboo development factory in Kogi State, with feasibility studies for seven more in Ogun, Cross River, Kaduna, Edo, Benue, Ekiti, and Taraba.

Lawal outlined forestry efforts, including the handover of 11 containers of confiscated logs by the Nigeria Customs Service, agroforestry projects, the Trans-African initiative against desertification, a national tree-planting campaign, and forest carbon projects under the REDD+ programme. On climate education, he cited a Federal Executive Council-approved national climate change policy (April 24, 2024): “The kind of thing we do now, particularly in rural areas, depletes our forests.”

Minister of Information Mohammed Idris, hosting the briefing, said, “We’ll continue to demonstrate our commitment, transparency, accountability and public engagement,” noting all ministers will address the public before Democracy Day 2025.