Nigerian and other African labour unions have rejected the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank-supported “Mission 300” electricity initiative, warning that the programme could deepen Africa’s debt crisis without delivering sustainable electricity access across the continent.
The unions, operating under the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), Public Services International (PSI), and IndustriALL Global Union Sub-Saharan Africa, said their members include the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC).
In a joint statement released on the sidelines of the 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, the groups said Mission 300 represents a continuation of what they described as a neoliberal approach to electrification.
According to the statement, nearly 600 million Africans still lack access to electricity despite previous commitments by international financial institutions.
The unions compared Mission 300 to the AfDB’s earlier “New Deal on Energy for Africa,” launched about a decade ago, arguing that it failed to achieve its targets.
“The New Deal pledged to mobilise private investment to achieve universal access in urban areas and 95 per cent access in rural areas by 2025. However, as of early 2026, about 50 per cent of sub-Saharan Africans still lack electricity, representing roughly 600 million people. The initiative was a spectacular failure,” the statement read.
They warned that Mission 300 could face a similar outcome as it also relies heavily on attracting private investment by creating “bankable projects” for private sector participation.
The unions noted that the World Bank Group and AfDB have pledged about 48 billion dollars in concessional financing, but said the funds would depend on governments using public resources to de-risk private sector investments.
They described this approach as “untenable and unjust,” adding that World Bank estimates place Africa’s annual electricity access financing gap between 35 billion and 50 billion dollars.
The labour organisations urged the World Bank to reconsider its reliance on private sector-led electrification, especially where it increases borrowing for already indebted governments.
They also expressed concern that African governments and institutions adopted Mission 300 without sufficient scrutiny, while pushing reforms requiring public utilities to achieve full cost recovery through tariff increases and efficiency measures.
“As energy sector workers, we understand that full cost recovery often weakens public utilities, leaving them unable to expand or upgrade infrastructure needed for electrification,” the statement added.
The unions called on African governments, the AfDB, and the World Bank to adopt a “Reclaim and Restore” approach that prioritises strengthening public electricity utilities instead of excessive reliance on private investors.
They further argued that current policies weaken public utilities to create space for private sector participation, which they said has not yet materialised at the expected scale.
The groups warned that Mission 300 is unlikely to achieve its target of providing electricity access to 300 million people by 2030 under the current framework, adding that any progress made could worsen Africa’s debt burden as public funds are used to subsidise private energy companies, many of them foreign-owned.
They maintained that only a fundamental shift in policy, focused on rebuilding public power infrastructure, can deliver reliable electricity access across the continent.
African Labour Unions Reject AfDB, World Bank “Mission 300” Electricity Plan, Warn of Debt Burden
