Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has emphasized that the economy of Africa will not develop until its electric power issue is resolved.
Obasanjo who joined other world leaders said this on Friday during the FIN International Trade and Investment Forum, a side line event at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.
According to him, it is imperative that Africans, their friends and their development partners must work together to raise sufficient investment for getting enough power to help Africa development, saying that he personally believe that the resources are out there.
In the same vein, the director of the World Trade Organization, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who also spoke at the event said that Africa could not industrialize or have a solid continental manufacturing base without energy.
The WTO boss added the green statistics of energy access on the continent is instructive, saying that the International Energy Agency has estimated a $28 billion annual investment gap for energy for the continent up to 2030.
Speaking virtually at the event, Obasanjo said there is the need for African countries need create the conducive environment for investment to come into Africa for power generation, power distribution and robust power transmission.
He said, “Today, we have to think of grid system, off grid system and indeed individual domestic system to take care of what is required, particularly in the rural areas.
“I will challenge this forum to really workout what should be the factors that our leader should consider, what should be the factors that Africans in the private sector will consider and what will be the factors that the foreign investors will need and consider to be able to power Africa in terms of our development economically and socially.”
Preferring solutions to energy gab in Africa, Okonjo-Iweala said African countries could not increase the continent shelf world trade without adding more value to our products through that manufacturing base.
She further disclosed that African countries’ future well-being on the continent is limited by improved energy access.
She said, “At the same time, the world is being buffeted by numerous manmade and natural exogenous shocks that are difficult for policy makers to manage.
“These shocks hit a continent struggling to manage simultaneous health, debt and energy crisis with limited fiscal space.
“But we must not lose sight of the opportunities of this crisis. Africa is abundantly endowed with energy resources from gas to renewables, all waiting for investment.
“High global energy prices make new gas investments more evident, especially as a transition mechanism of will.
“Even as we strive towards renewables, let us focus on mutually beneficial energy investments for Africa and the world by taking up the opportunities to harness the continent’s gas and renewable energy resources.”
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