By Michael Oche
African trade unions have warned that the African Development Bank’s (AfDB) model for connecting 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030 risks repeating past failures and deepening the continent’s debt burden if it continues to rely heavily on private sector-led investments.
The unions, under the umbrella of the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa), Public Services International (PSI), and IndustriAll Global Union Sub-Saharan African Region, made their position known in a statement issued on the sidelines of the 2026 AfDB Annual Meetings in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The workers organisations were reacting to the AfDB and World Bank-backed “Mission 300” initiative launched in April 2024 during the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in Washington, D.C.
According to the unions, the initiative mirrors the AfDB’s earlier “New Deal on Energy for Africa,” which promised near universal electricity access across urban and rural Africa by 2025 through private sector investment.
They argued that despite those commitments, about 600 million Africans still lacked electricity access at the beginning of 2026, describing the earlier programme as a “spectacular failure.”
The unions expressed concern that Mission 300 was built on the same framework of attracting private investors through “bankable projects” and public subsidies designed to de-risk investments for energy companies.
They noted that while the World Bank Group and AfDB had pledged about $48 billion in concessional financing for the initiative, governments would still bear the burden of subsidising private investments through additional borrowing.
“This, we believe, is both untenable and unjust,” the unions stated.
Citing World Bank estimates, the labour groups said Sub-Saharan Africa requires between $35 billion and $50 billion annually to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 7 on universal electricity access.
They warned that relying on private sector participation supported by heavy subsidies could further strain African governments already grappling with mounting debt obligations.
The unions also criticised the African Union’s endorsement of Mission 300 at its 38th Summit in Addis Ababa in February 2025, saying governments appeared to have accepted the initiative without sufficiently questioning its implications.
According to the statement, the AU’s support for policies such as tariff adjustments and cost recovery measures could place additional financial pressure on public utilities and electricity consumers.
“As unions representing energy sector workers, we have a close-up view of what 100 percent operational cost recovery means in practice,” the statement said.
“Public utilities become so financially stressed that they are unable to improve or expand the infrastructure necessary for electrification.”
The organisations called on the World Bank Group, AfDB, African Union and G20 governments to adopt what they described as a “Reclaim and Restore” alternative approach centred on strengthening publicly-owned utilities rather than expanding the role of private independent power producers.
They pointed to Mexico’s recent efforts to rebuild public electricity infrastructure and place energy transition responsibilities under public control as a possible model for African countries.
Under the proposed alternative framework, the unions said African governments should reverse privatisation laws introduced during the structural adjustment era of the 1980s and 1990s and redirect financial and technical support towards public utilities with clear electrification mandates.
The groups maintained that Mission 300, under its current policy direction, would struggle to meet its target by 2030.
“We are convinced that Mission 300 will not be able to deliver on its 300 million target by 2030 based on the current set of policies,” the unions stated.
They further warned that any gains achieved under the initiative could come at the cost of increased public debt, with governments using public funds to subsidise multinational energy companies.
