By Stanley Onyeka, Lagos
Oil and gas experts have listed measures to ending Africa’s energy crises and general underdevelopment in the continent.
To solve their energy problems, Africans have been urged to collaborate through local content development, huge investment, partnerships and support for the newly-established Energy Bank rather than looking for solutions from outside the continent.
This was the advice given by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri at the 9th Sub Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition Conference (SAIPEC), hosted by Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN).
The theme of the conference is tagged: “Building Africa’s Future advancing local content and sustainable development in the oil and gas industry.
He also emphasized the need for African leaders to pull resources to promote regional collaboration by investing in capacity building, and technology deployment in Africa.
Using Nigeria as a case study Mr. Lokpobiri said that Nigeria is the leading oil and gas producer in Africa, because it has succeeded in the elimination of middlemen in the cost of executing oil and gas project and also created a university for the training of industry professionals called the Institute of Petroleum and Energy Studies in Port Harcourt (IPES), which has gone into partnership with three UK universities in effort to build capacity and aid technology transfer and innovation.
Noting that over 70% of Nigeria’s earnings are from the oil and gas industry even as most of the raw materials for other sources of energy are sourced from Africa, the Minister said it’s Africa’s choice to either wait for funding from the international communities that is not forthcoming and remain poor or change the narrative by solving its energy problems by themselves.
The key pillars to Africa’s collaboration strategy must include human capital development, investment in infrastructure, provision of funding for local companies and transfer of technology and innovation.
The key pillars to Africa’s collaboration strategy must include human capital development, investment in infrastructure, provision of funding for local companies and transfer of technology and innovation.
Uniform approach
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Felix Ogbe, in his contribution, said it is imperative for Africa to adopt a uniform approach in strengthening local content development, advancing industrialization and encouraging sustainable economic growth throughout the continent.
He said that over the years, some sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and Uganda have taken notable decisive steps in local content development.
According to the NCDMB boss, the key pillars to Africa’s collaboration strategy must include human capital development, investment in infrastructure, provision of funding for local companies and transfer of technology and innovation.
He argued that with a total population of over 1.3 billion and combined GDP of over $3 trillion, to fast-track local content development, Africans must leverage the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO), NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari reiterated that Africa needs to reduce its export dependency for oil and gas because the global energy landscape is dynamic.
He added that for the region to achieve sustainable growth, it has to redefine the energy landscape by focusing on key areas such as energy transition, energy efficiency, energy investment, cost reduction by eliminating middlemen, and gas and renewable energy development.
For a successful oil and gas industry, Mr Kyari stressed the need to balance energy transition, market realities and energy security to be driven mostly by availability of indigenous capacity, local resources, local content development and regional cooperation and collaboration.
He added that Africa’s local content development must not be treated in isolation but by collective effort by Africans.
The Vice Chairman, PETAN, and CEO Global Process and Pipeline Limited, Obi Uzu, said that the association in the last 30 years of its existence has been making efforts to ensure that its members complied with digital transformation and technological innovations.
This also includes shifting to a sustainable supply chain concept, embracing government policies, energy transition dynamics vs services offering, acquiring international and local certification, adapting to a tech-driven environment for operational success and corporate social responsibility/public perception.
