By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA —SENIOR government officials, development partners, and private sector leaders have reflected on six years of infrastructure reform and investment support delivered through the United Kingdom–Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility (UKNIAF), as the programme formally closed its current phase.

UKNIAF is funded by the UK FCDO and operates as a flexible, demand-led technical assistance programme primarily supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria.

More than 100 stakeholders gathered in Abuja on December 2 to review achievements of the UK government–funded initiative, launched in 2019, and to consider challenges and priorities for sustaining momentum in Nigeria’s power, infrastructure finance, and road sectors.

UKNIAF is the third programme in a 16-year history of UK-backed infrastructure support to Nigeria. Across the Power, Infrastructure Finance, and Roads sectors, the facility has provided targeted technical assistance to federal and state institutions, promoting evidence-based reforms, strengthening institutional capacity, and helping create a more investor-ready environment.

According to programme officials, UKNIAF’s work helped mobilise significant financing and supported sector transformation, particularly at the subnational level. Plenary and panel discussions at the close-out event highlighted reforms that have taken root, improvements in planning and regulation, and the need for continued collaboration between public and private actors.

In the power sector, participants pointed to landmark achievements, including the development of Nigeria’s first Integrated Resource Plan, which outlines a least-cost, low-carbon pathway for power sector expansion.

 The programme also supported the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to develop advanced data systems to monitor tariffs, grid flows, and outages in real time, and assisted states in establishing their own electricity markets following recent sector reforms.

Infrastructure finance was another key focus as UKNIAF supported the mobilisation of $75 million of financing from the African Development Bank to the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone programme by providing project preparation assistance to two states.

It also worked with the Rural Electrification Agency to accelerate mini-grids and solar projects through new delivery models and technical standards.In addition, the programme contributed to strengthening Nigeria’s pipeline of bankable infrastructure projects through the design of a new project preparation facility, with N21 billion allocated in both the 2024 and 2025 federal budgets to operationalise it.

Frank Edozie, UKNIAF Team Lead, said the close-out marked a transition rather than an endpoint. “For over six years, we helped strengthen institutions with tools that make Nigeria’s infrastructure landscape more transparent, climate-smart, and attractive to investors. This legacy now sits with our partners to sustain and grow”, he said.

The Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, credited the programme with laying the foundations for sector reform. He said: “The technical assistance, capacity development and advisory services provided under UKNIAF have laid a firmer foundation for the sustainable and inclusive electricity supply industry we are building today”.

Cynthia Rowe, Head of Development Cooperation at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Nigeria, said the partnership demonstrated what coordinated support could achieve. She cited milestones such as enabling states to take control of electricity markets, unlocking $75m financing through project preparation, and designing Nigeria’s Climate Change Fund to attract global climate investment.

At the subnational level, the Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said UKNIAF’s impact was evident in strengthened decision-making capacity. “UKNIAF may be ending as a programme, but its legacy in supporting senior decision-makers’ lives on,” he said.

The event concluded with renewed commitments from partners to sustain reforms, adopt knowledge products developed under the programme, and deepen collaboration across Nigeria’s infrastructure ecosystem.

 Participants included representatives from federal and state governments, development finance institutions such as the African Development Bank, World Bank, and International Finance Corporation, as well as private sector and civil society organisations.