Dangote, Akufo-Addo decry poor energy supply in Africa
Perpetual deficit in power generation and lack of access to electricity have been identified as the bane of economic growth in Africa, hence governments have been urged to reverse the trend.
Nigerian businessman and Executive Chairman of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote who spoke at the first panel discussion at the Development Finance Forum in Accra, urged African governments to take concerted measures to improve energy supply. He described the situation as the biggest challenge to economic growth in the region.
The Development Finance Forum was organized by the World Bank Group and the Africa Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) and it is intended to attract investment opportunities to the continent.
Dangote said economic growth in the continent was concomitant to infrastructure development, especially stable power supply to propel small scale businesses. Regrettably, he noted that the deplorable state of power supply stymied small businesses, because the proprietors have to rely heavily on generators.
He said the cost of fueling and servicing generators that ordinarily should be alternative source of power was huge, leading to the collapse of most business ventures.
“The entire state of Kano with a population of 2.1 million peoplehas a power supply of less than 35 megawatts from the grid. These are the issues we need to address. We must make sure power is available if not businesses cannot grow,” he said.
The President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, also decried the situation.
Acknowledging the wide deficit in Ghana’s infrastructure, he revealed that about $40 billion was required to bridge the gap, and called for private sector involvement to shore up investments in the sector. “What is true is that we cannot meet this demand without financing at a much larger scale through significant additional private involvement. That is true for Ghana and true for the entire West African region and beyond,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo said his administration was tackling the financial challenges of the sector as well as articulating a policy framework that would encourage private sector investments.
To this end, he said the administration was set to issue a $2.5 billion energy sector bond to pay energy sector debts inherited from the last administration.
NiMet has 8,946 weather stations deficit - Mashi
Nigeria, with a land mass of 923,768 km², has just 54 weather stations, which is grossly inadequate for comprehensive weather forecast and coverage, the Director-General/CEO, Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Prof. Sani Abubakar Mashi, has said.
He said going by the World Metrological Organisation (WMO), Nigeria should have at least 9,000 weather stations.
Prof. Mashi spoke when he received a delegation from Austria-based Institute for Ubiquitous Meteorology (UBIMET), a global private provider of weather forecasts and severe weather warnings.
He said the density of weather stations in Nigeria needs to be improved to meet international prescriptions.