FG Urges Oil Sector To Rescue 600m Africans From Energy Poverty
The Federal Government has urged the chief executive officers of Africa’s National Oil Companies (NOC) to rescue 600 million Africans facing energy poverty and another 900 million people on the continent with access to clean cooking fuel.
The Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Chief NOC, who gave the charge at a meeting of CEOs of Africa Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), member countries, said it was unacceptable for such a large number of Africans to face energy challenges.
Sylva noted that the continent was at the receiving end of the negative impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and the catastrophic impact of climate change.
He added: “We urgently need to plan for our energy future. Our goal should be energy sufficiency to ensure energy security, end the ravaging energy poverty in the continent and drive the continent’s overdue economic breakthrough.
“It is unacceptable in this modern age that 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity, and 900 million have no access to clean cooking fuel. Our imminent mission should be to rescue this vast number of our people from this grip of unjustifiable abject energy poverty.
“We should harness all our abundant and varied energy resources, including fossil fuels and renewable resources, to assure not only availability and accessibility but also affordability and sustainability, to meet our increasing energy demand.”
He noted that the push to end energy poverty in Africa “does not imply ignoring the issue of CO2 emissions and concerns about climate change, which is fueling the calls for the energy transition. We should however clarify that energy transition does not imply that some energy sources should be abandoned.
The minister stressed that energy transition is all about providing clean energy, and not about discriminating between energy sources.
Sylva added: “All available energy sources will be required to end the high level of energy poverty in Africa and achieve the sustainable development goal of providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”
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