UNDP, Sahara Energy to promote low cost energy

ONE of Zambia’s fuel suppliers, Sahara Energy, has joined hands with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to promote reliable access to affordable and sustainable energy, and to mainstream the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to a statement made available to the Daily Nation yesterday by Sahara head of corporate communications, Bethel Obioma, the private partnership was specifically aimed at the attaining of SDG 7 which talked about promoting access to affordable energy. The duo inked their partnership in New York this week during the official signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between UNDP’s Regional Director for Africa Ahunna Eziakonwa and the Sahara Group Executive Director Mr. Temitope Shonubi. Speaking at the same function, UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, said access to affordable energy was a critical component of its partnership with the energy conglomerate as there was still a glaring number of people in the Sub-Saharan region who still had challenges in accessing electricity. “Six hundred and fifty million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity. UNDP looks forward to partnering with Sahara Group to ensure everyone in this region has access to affordable energy, a critical part of our work supporting countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030,” Mr. Steiner said. And Mr. Shonubi said the demand for energy could not be overemphasised because it was critical to accelerating sustainable development. “At Sahara Group, we believe that access to energy is critical to accelerating sustainable development, especially in developing economies. As a leading energy provider in Africa, we are passionate about the partnership with the UNDP and are confident that it would inspire more interventions and ultimately facilitate access to reliable, clean and affordable energy for all Africans,” Mr. Shonubi said.