Nigeria’s Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, says while the world pays attention to climate change in Africa and the transition to cleaner energy sources, the alarming rate of energy poverty on the continent is of grave concern. And as such, it is only wise that both are addressed in a sustainable manner.
Sylva said this, on Thursday, in Abuja, at the Nigeria-Africa Natural Resource & Energy Investment Summit tagged ‘Towards a Greener Africa’.
While emphasising the need for every nation and region to come up with a green initiative to foster collective combat against the threat posed by climate change to the planet, he noted that “it should be borne in mind that such initiatives should reflect the realities and conditions prevailing in these places, particularly the socio-economic development and energy needs.”
In his speech which was made available by his Technical Adviser, Gas Business & Policy Implementation, Justice Derefaka, Sylva reiterated that CO2 emissions by sub-Saharan Africa in total was only 0.76 metric tons per capita against the world average of 4.48 metric tons per capita as of 2018, according to the World Bank.
“Climate change is definitely of serious concern to Africa. But of equal concern is the alarming level of energy poverty,” he said. “Both must be addressed in a sustainable manner. It must be a win-win situation.”
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Sylva argued that “energy transition is about providing clean energy, and not about discriminating between energy sources. In the face of the current high level of energy poverty worldwide, especially in Africa, all energy sources will be required to achieve the sustainable development goal of providing access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.”
On how to meet the continent’s energy needs, he said renewable energy sources alone cannot solve the problem and advocated that “all available energy sources should be considered, while available technologies, like carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), should be employed to make them cleaner.”
In the face of the global drive for oil majors to divest from oil and gas, Sylva said oil and gas will remain important components of the global energy mix for decades to come, noting that they will continue to remain essential for propelling global socio-economic development, especially in energy-poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“Fossil fuel, used with appropriate technologies, should be a part of the solution to climate change in energy-poor countries.”
Natural gas is a low carbon-emitting energy source that could play a major role in the energy transition quest, he said, noting that Nigeria has already made a strong commitment to embracing energy transition and “the only viable option currently on the table is natural gas.
“We cannot ignore this resource, especially when energy poverty is viciously staring at us”, he emphasised.
The goal of Nigeria’s gas policy, Sylva said, is to ensure that “gas development is undertaken in accordance with our socio-economic development priorities. The aim is to guarantee long-term energy security in the country, and boost the domestic gas market.”
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