$5B Africa Energy Bank Opens in Abuja, Names First Boss

Africa's own oil and gas lender now formally exists, and its home is Abuja. The Africa Energy Bank was established on Saturday, 31 October, at its first general meeting in the Nigerian capital, according to a joint statement from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the African Petroleum Producers' Organisation (APPO), the two institutions behind it.

The bank has authorised capital of $5 billion, about ₦6.7 trillion at the official rate of roughly ₦1,347 to the dollar, The Sun reports. Resolutions passed at the meeting appointed Helmy Ghazi as its first president and constituted its first board of directors, drawn from the public and private sectors and from policy institutions across the continent.

Who is running it

Ghazi is an Egyptian banker. Before this appointment he was deputy chief executive and managing director, head of global banking, at HSBC Bank Egypt, Nairametrics reports, with more than 25 years in banking. The meeting was attended by Nigeria's Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, Afreximbank president George Elombi and Côte d'Ivoire's minister of mines, petroleum and energy, Mamadou Sangafowa-Coulibaly.

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What the bank will finance

According to the statement, the bank will back projects across the whole energy chain: exploration and production, transport, processing, refining and distribution. Its stated aims are to raise production capacity, cut Africa's reliance on imported petroleum products and grow trade in energy between African countries. It will operate as an independent, supranational pan-African lender, raising money from governments, national oil companies, financial institutions and private investors, TheFact reports.

The case for it is that traditional lenders to African energy are withdrawing from fossil fuels while oil and gas remain central to the continent's energy systems. The statement also ties the bank to power generation and transmission, which it says Africa needs to grow industry and use new technologies, artificial intelligence in particular.

Why Abuja

The bank was APPO's idea, and Afreximbank is one of its biggest investors: Nairametrics notes that Afreximbank approved $1.7 billion for it in 2024. APPO has 18 member countries, all oil or gas producers. In February, Nigeria handed over a furnished headquarters building in Abuja to APPO and Afreximbank; Lokpobiri said then that it was the third site offered, after two were rejected over size and location, and that it was Nigeria's last outstanding obligation as host country, ThisDay reported. He expected operations to start by the end of April. The formal launch came six months after the handover.