By Ndubuisi Micheal Obineme
Nigeria’s former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, led the discussion on addressing energy infrastructure deficiency in Africa at the Angola Oil & Gas Technology Virtual Conference held on 15 – 17 December 2020.
Kachikwu, who spoke during his keynote address, said that there is a depth of infrastructural challenges in Africa’s energy industry, noting that this is the time to establish a Pan – African Infrastructure Scheme across the continent as this is a first full proof mechanism of securing investment within the African market.
Kachikwu further explained that during his time as the APPO Head of Ministerial Council, he was pushing to see how they can drive regional investment in infrastructure in Africa’s energy sector
According to the report, Africa requires up to $10 to $15 billion investment to develop its infrastructure in the energy sector.
He said “Every country doesn’t need to have a refinery but if we have a couple of big ones around, then, we can take over the downstream sector. The importation from western countries will end. The biggest producers in Africa are Nigeria, Angola, Egypt, among others. They need to come together to see what they can do for the African continent.
“There is also a need for more private sector collaboration. A lot of efforts are still led by the government which is good and understandable due to the share size of government. But the private sector is key. They need to collaborate and take major decisions on investment.
“I would urge that as we begin to look at new mineral licenses and bid rounds, we also need to zero-in our African businesses including government to externalise the investment. African government must put as much importance on current resource development to plan for the future.
“For example, I would like to see Nigeria just signed an agreement with Niger over the refinery. Dangote refinery is making headway in Nigeria. But we would like to see a couple of other ones within the African continent so that we can take over the downstream sector.
“I am very impressed to see that APPO is working with Afreximbank to raise billion dollars of investment for the oil sector. But we need a whole lot of that.”
Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu is currently the Chairman of Afric Energy. Established in 1998, Afric Energy is a trusted provider of consultancy, data and news services designed to support decision-making throughout all stages of the project and investment lifecycle.
Afric Energy works with governments and companies to help find sustainable solutions to close Africa’s energy gap.