Speaking at a high profile panel on energy at the 2015 annual meeting for the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland, Nigerian billionaire and philanthropist Tony
Elumelu emphasized the key priority for 2015 for Africa as “policy,
policy, policy”.
Launching the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG), a
multi-stakeholder advocacy group that aims to address Africa’s power
deficiency; the continent has approximately 620 million people without
electricity, Mr. Elumelu said “investors in this space are rational.
The
risks are huge; the capital requirements are equally huge. If you want
to invest in this space, you have to first survey the environment beyond
economics; policy, stability, enforceability of rules, the nature of
the regulatory framework. If the right policies are in place, investors
and financiers will be encouraged to invest.”
AELG will bring the continent’s leaders together in an effort to
build public – private partnerships, leverage political support and
mobilize funds for sustainable energy and development. Created by a
working group of African leaders including billionaires Mr. Elumelu,
Aliko Dangote; Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank, Prime Minister Daniel Duncan of Ivory Coast and President John Mahama of Ghana,
AELG’s mission takes the form of three pillars; driving universal
access, driving efficiency and driving renewables. “Currently, every
single African country is experiencing energy shortages and power
outages. This costs the continent 2% of its GDP,” said Kaberuka, “We are
a continent of miracles; if we are growing at 5% without enough
electricity, think of what the continent could do with enough
electricity.” Kaberuka also added that the African Development Bank does
$5 billion of infrastructure per year; half of that investment is
spear-marked for energy, in both the private and public sectors.
Forbes reporage
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