Africa-Press – Gambia. Dakar, Dec 18 (EFE) .- Africa must solve its problems of “energy poverty” before facing the challenges of the climate crisis, according to the Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima.
“Africa first needs to address energy poverty before we can talk about the energy transition,” Lima said in a statement published today on social media about his speech at the “MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2021” conference, which closed this Friday in Dakar and discussed energy on the continent.
“There is energy poverty. It is a reality in a large part of Africa. You cannot talk about an energy transition without first providing electricity to its people,” stressed the minister, whose country is one of the main oil producers on the continent, although it also counts with significant gas reserves.
More than 500 million people lack access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, according to studies by international organizations such as the World Bank.
Thus, Lima appealed to Senegal, Mozambique and Uganda, “the new oil and gas producers in Africa, to speak out and defend their right to develop their resources, because they have the most to lose.”
“We want to make it very clear that we do not deny climate change. Climate change is real, but this story has two sides, that of the producer and that of the consumer,” argued the head of Mines and Hydrocarbons, son of the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, who has led the Central African country with a heavy hand since 1979.
“The amount of energy used to play video games in the United States is equivalent to that used by the entire central Nigerian government. You cannot just blame the producers. Consumption and consumption habits must be addressed,” Lima added.
Under the slogan “A new wave of investment”, the conference “MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2021” analyzed last Thursday and Friday in Dakar the ways to improve regional partnerships and stimulate investment and development opportunities in the sectors of the oil, gas and energy within the MSGBC basin.
The MSGBC groups together the countries of the sedimentary basin common to Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea-Conakry, which remains under-exploited despite the potential it has revealed in recent years.
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