Press Release

OFID Abuja Workshop closes on a hopeful note
Participants envisage progress

16/2008 June 10, Abuja, Nigeria
Press inquiries:

The Abuja, Nigeria Workshop of OFID on Energy Poverty in Africa drew to a close today with delegates suggesting a follow-up and renewed impetus toward closer collaboration with African countries to develop energy sources and enhance availability and distribution. The workshop, under the high patronage of Nigeria’s President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, brought together a record number of delegates drawn from government, industry and international organizations, among them the World Bank; the International Monetary Fund; the African Development Bank; the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa; Chevron Corporation; the International Energy Forum; the Islamic Development Bank; the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries; the Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc., the Saudi Fund for Development; Schlumberger Ltd., the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation; the United Nations Environment Programme; the West African Power Pool; the World Energy Council; the OPEC Secretariat; the UK Department for International Development and Japan’s International Co-operation Agency. A number of African ministers were also present as were ranking consular representatives of OPEC Member Countries in Abuja.

In a concluding statement, it was noted that “our views on Sub-Sahara Africa are distinctly positive”: There are challenges, but progress is being made:

The sub continent has registered growth in the last few years that is unique in its history; The prospects for continued growth are good, especially if the prices of commodities confirm the gains made recently; The cancellation of debt is a just recognition of a burden that the poor countries of the sub-continent could hardly bear and simultaneously pursue development; and Conflicts are being solved, thanks to the political wisdom of the leaders of the region.

Delegates asserted that a growing and better-off Africa was in the interest of the global community; and that Africa should be accorded a fairer deal in trade and environment-related issues. Calls were made for aid promises to be fulfilled, and access to technology facilitated somewhat.

The workshop had opened June 9 with major statements by the Nigerian President; the Nigerian Minister of State for Energy (Power), HE Hajia Fatima Balarabe Ibrahim; the Minister of State for Energy (Petroleum), HE Mr. H. Odein Ajumogobia (SAN); and the Director-General of OFID, Mr. Suleiman Jasir Al-Herbish. The Nigerian President’s address was delivered on his behalf by the Minister of Finance, HE Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman (OFR). A speech by the Secretary-General (SG) of OPEC, HE Mr. Abdalla Salem El-Badri, was also read on the SG’s behalf at the opening session, by Dr. Omar F. Ibrahim, OPEC’s Head of PR and Information Department.

The Nigerian President told the workshop that Africa, paradoxically, was not energy-poor, but that most of the continent’s energy resources were yet to be exploited. He said Africa, as a continent, was of the opinion that its destiny and progress laid in the hands of its own peoples: “the default mechanism for progress in Africa is right here on the continent,” the President said. However, Africa welcomed genuine cooperation from the rest of the world, he added. The President paid tribute to OFID’s Al-Herbish for “taking early initiative to begin to work toward implementation of some specific objectives set by the Third OPEC Summit Riyadh Declaration of 2007.”

Prior to the President’s address, Director-General Al-Herbish had described the problem of energy scarcity in Africa as unacceptable. He called on African countries to work harder at energy sufficiency and urged participating institutions and conglomerates to give larger consideration to the needs of Africa in the area of energy for sustainable development.

Al-Herbish would like to see quantum improvement in power supply across Africa and greater efficiency in energy use on the continent. He refuses to acknowledge bottlenecks in energy development in Africa, arguing that “bottlenecks are there to be surmounted.” According to Al-Herbish, “there is no reason Africa should be relegated to the backwater of development; there is no reason much of the continent should be energy-deficient."

Energy supply and delivery remain a major challenge for African countries. As the continent struggles to reduce poverty by half in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the countries are finding energy scarcity a major drawback. Africa’s landmass of 30.3 million km² is endowed with rich natural resources, including fossil and renewable energy sources. Yet, most of these are still to be exploited. The World Bank estimates that Africa’s energy resource endowments vis-à-vis world totals are in this order of magnitude: oil 9.5%; coal 5.6%; and natural gas 8%. Still, Africa remains “energy poor.” Sub-Sahara Africa, in particular, depends largely on inefficient traditional biomass used mainly for cooking and for heating water in households. These sources of energy (e.g. fire wood and charcoal) burn inefficiently, giving rise to energy loss. The surrounding environment is also degraded, through the depletion of forest resources. Deaths from indoor air pollution arising from the burning of biomass fuels are substantial.

The two-day Abuja workshop heard presentations on Why Africa lags behind in the Energy Sector; on Regional Integration of Power Systems; Powering Industrial Growth; Energy Access in Rural Areas; Expanding Energy Access through Sustainable Energy Enterprises in Africa; Governance and Efficiency in African Power Utilities; and Promotion of public-private partnership to improve energy access for poverty reduction and growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The workshop is the first in a series planned by OFID to examine key issues related to the MDGs and expected to hold in various regions of the world. The MDGs are a set of eight objectives agreed on by the international community to guide the world toward a threshold of development conducive to human progress. Energy is seen as essential to the accomplishment of all eight goals. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2007, OPEC Sovereigns and Heads of State and Government, meeting in summit, declared, inter-alia that energy was essential for poverty eradication and sustainable development. The leaders pledged that OPEC Countries “would continue to align the programmes of [their] aid institutions, including those of the OPEC Fund for International Development, with the objective of achieving sustainable development and the eradication of energy poverty in the developing countries, and study ways and means of enhancing this endeavour, in association with the energy industry and other financial institutions.” The workshop in Abuja was inspired by that resolution.

 

Watch the report
by presstv.com.