By Moubarak Moukaila, Director of Sustainable Development Financing
Producing locally, distributing intelligently, prioritizing the essential
West Africa is burning. Not only due to climate change – although the desertification projections by 2070 are alarming – but under the weight of an unsustainable energy dependence. In the UEMOA area, less than half of the population has access to electricity, with stark disparities: around 20% in Niger compared to nearly 75% in Senegal. While electricity demand is increasing at a rate close to 11% per year, supply is only increasing around 4%. This gap is no longer a temporary tension. It is a structural fracture.
And yet, energy policies continue to predominantly favor a logic of centralized production, relying on heavy, slow-to-deploy infrastructure that is often disconnected from local realities. However, the energy problem in the region is not just a production problem. It is primarily a problem of transport and distribution. A megawatt produced far from consumption centers is worthless if transmission lines are nonexistent, outdated, or saturated. Building power plants without simultaneously developing networks is like filling a leaky bucket.
This vulnerability is even more acute in the current geopolitical context. Tensions around Iran, a major player in the global oil market, serve as a reminder of how vulnerable West African economies remain to external shocks. In the UEMOA zone, over 70% of the energy mix is still dominated by thermal sources. In other words, the region continues to massively import hydrocarbons to produce electricity that is insufficiently distributed to populations who often do not even have access to it.
Each increase in the price of oil acts as an invisible tax on households, businesses, hospitals, or schools. Member states already spend around 3 trillion CFA francs per year on food imports. Added to the energy bill, this dependence contributes to the budgetary suffocation of several economies, at a time when debt service reaches or sometimes exceeds 100% of tax revenues.
Yet the solution already exists. It does not depend on a hypothetical technological revolution or an inaccessible innovation. The costs of photovoltaic panels have dropped by over 90% in fifteen years. Batteries are becoming more efficient. Mini-grids now power thousands of rural communities in Kenya, Tanzania, or Bangladesh. In West Africa, the real strategic breakthrough now lies in decentralized energy.
For rural and peri-urban areas, off-grid and mini-grid systems are not second-rate solutions. They often represent the only economically rational option. A properly sized solar mini-grid can be deployed in a few months, irrigate farms, power a school or health center, and create the foundation for a viable local economy. Conversely, waiting for decades for the hypothetical extension of the national grid to remote villages condemns several generations to live without electricity.
In urban centers as well, the potential is significant. Solar self-consumption on administrative buildings, schools, universities, or hospitals could cover a significant portion of daytime needs without straining already saturated national grids. The roofs exist. The sun is abundant. The technologies are available. This local production would free up valuable capacity for priority uses: industries, critical infrastructure, cold chains, or nighttime household consumption.
It is precisely this logic of prioritization that public policies must now embrace. Electricity produced at a high cost must first be directed towards sectors that create the most economic and social value. The decentralized vision is not a substitute reserved for marginalized territories. It is a vision of economic efficiency.
In this dynamic, the West African Development Bank is seeking to position its “Djoliba… The Suite” strategy as a lever for regional energy transformation. The 2026-2030 strategic plan foresees the mobilization of 6.5 trillion CFA francs in financing, with a target of 1,000 MW of additional electricity capacity, 45% of which will come from renewable sources. Fifteen million additional beneficiaries are expected to access electricity by 2030.
The program explicitly identifies support for off-grid solutions and PAYGO models as a strategic axis. Energy is treated as a cross-cutting priority, conditioning the development of agriculture, industry, health, and education. The BOAD also has accreditations with several major international climate funds – Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility, Adaptation Fund, or Loss and Damage Response Fund – allowing it to structure concessional financing and blended finance mechanisms tailored to decentralized projects.
The Climate Study Fund (FEC), still relatively unknown to the general public, also plays a strategic role in financing feasibility studies and technical project preparation before presenting them to investors. It often serves as the missing link between political ambitions and actual infrastructure delivery.
Three priorities now emerge. Firstly, establishing a clear regulatory framework allowing for self-consumption and solar injection into distribution networks. In several UEMOA countries, this legal vacuum continues to significantly hinder the development of photovoltaic installations. Secondly, creating financial instruments adapted to SMEs and rural solar startups: refinancing lines, guarantees, patient venture capital, or risk-sharing mechanisms. Finally, an explicit strategy of prioritizing energy uses so that available electricity is directed towards high-value-added activities and vital infrastructure.
The economic history of nations that have successfully industrialized is unequivocal: sustainable development has not been possible without universal access to reliable and affordable electricity. West Africa does not need to reinvent this history. It simply needs to write it with the tools of the 21st century.
The next oil shock is no longer a theoretical hypothesis. Only its timing remains uncertain. Through “Djoliba… The Suite,” the BOAD seems to have understood that decentralized energy is probably the shortest path between the current urgency and future energy sovereignty. Now, it is necessary to transform this ambition into operational reality.
About Moubarak Moukaila
Moubarak Moukaila is a senior specialist in development financing at the West African Development Bank (BOAD), with over 17 years of experience in mobilizing resources and implementing high-impact programs across Africa. He has mobilized over 500 million USD in development financing, with approximately 70% in grants and 30% in concessional loans, serving climate resilience, inclusive growth, and sustainable development. He serves as the Director of Sustainable Development Financing, overseeing strategic partnerships, resource mobilization, and major programs aligned with the SDGs and the Paris Agreement. Mr. Moukaila holds a Master of Science in Financial Economics from Boston University and has undergone executive training at HEC Paris. He is a Certified Green Bond Principles Professional (ICMA) and has received advanced training from the United Nations System College.
