AfDB Approves $3.9m Mission 300 Project For Nigeria, Others

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a $3.9 million, two-year project to assist Nigeria and 12 other African countries in implementing energy compacts under Mission 300, a pan-African initiative to expand electricity access to 300 million people by 2030.
The approval was granted by the AfDB Board of Directors and disclosed on the bank’s website on Friday. The project, known as AESTAP Mission 300 Phase II, will provide direct technical support to participating countries, helping them translate policy commitments into tangible electricity connections for households, businesses, and public institutions.
Wale Shonibare, Director of Energy Financial Solutions, Policy and Regulation at the AfDB, said countries had made “bold commitments” through their Energy Compacts but required hands-on support to achieve real outcomes. “The focus is on ensuring that households, entrepreneurs, and communities actually gain access to electricity,” he said.
Mission 300 was launched in January 2025 by the World Bank and AfDB to tackle Africa’s electricity access gap. Participating countries were encouraged to develop National Energy Compacts, outlining regulatory reforms, utility performance improvements, and investment strategies to scale up access.
Phase II builds on the earlier AESTAP Mission 300 Phase I, approved in December 2025, which helped countries establish Compact Delivery and Monitoring Units to coordinate energy reforms. The new phase will embed expert advisers within these units, strengthen utilities, improve data collection and research, and facilitate cross-country learning through tools such as the Electricity Regulatory Index.
Beneficiary countries include Chad, Gabon, Tanzania, Mauritania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Madagascar, Ethiopia, Malawi, Lesotho, Namibia, and Uganda.
In addition to Mission 300, AfDB has continued to scale up financial support in the region, including a $500 million loan to Nigeria’s federal government for the Economic Governance and Energy Transition Support Programme and a $100 million loan to the Emerging Africa and Asia Infrastructure Fund (EAAIF).