Energy Transition Will Push Africans Into Poverty If We Defund Gas Projects– Osinbajo

Nigeria’s Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has cautioned against any attempt to defund gas projects in Nigeria which is a transition fuel for Africa’s biggest economy.

The VP said any such move to deny funding for massive gas projects in the continent will widen the energy poverty experienced in the region.

Osinbajo gave the view on Tuesday at the 2023 Nigerian International Energy Summit with the theme, ‘Global Perspective for a Sustainable Future.’

Osinbajo said, “The truth is no other sector of our economy is as crucial to the transition to a more sustainable future as the oil and gas sector at least as far as our own country is concerned. What is that future? Let me first say what it is not. It must not be a future where Africa remains at the bottom of the food chain in the brave new world of sustainable energy.

“We must admit that today we have the largest number of individuals without access to power. The largest number of people without access to clean cooking fuels and we need rapid industrialisation to get millions of our people out of poverty and we must do all of this without worsening global warming situations which is why some of us have argued that there is a need for some clarity as to where we are in the transition journey and what we need to be doing because there are two existential crisis for us Africans and of course our own country Nigeria.

“The first of course is global warming and all its implications and the second is the lack of energy access- the energy poverty that we have. Which also results in millions of our people being extremely poor. For us in this part of the world, both must go simultaneously. Transition to cleaner fuel and access to power that we can also have access to development for our people.

“That is why gas must remain an important fuel. We cannot accept the position that some of the global north countries have offered that gas is one of those fuels that must be defunded or gas projects should be defunded in other to enable faster progress towards the renewable energy that we expect. For us also, gas is crucial.”

Nigeria launched its Energy Transition Plan in August 2022 to demonstrate its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality.

The Nigerian government and the state-owned petroleum company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd announced gas as a transition fuel.

Nigeria alone has 202 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of untapped proven gas reserves.

In March, the Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) which is made up of 85 international institutional investors who control a total $11 trillion in assets under management said net-zero scenarios “cannot be achieved if there are new upstream infrastructure investments in new oil and gas fields.”

It specifically said that investors should not finance greenfield upstream oil projects beyond those already committed to by the end of 2021.

Osinbajo said, “The reason why gas is crucial is not just because we have such a huge amount of gas, it is also because it is possibly the only clean cooking option for us and clean cooking is an important aspect of the entire clean energy agenda. We in this part of the world cannot do without it. LPG is crucial for clean cooking. So, even when we talk about renewable energy for clean cooking, we also think in terms of LPG and all the other clean cooking options.

“We must not see Africa as the victim and we must continue to repeat the notion that Africa is a victim in this whole process of a journey towards sustainable energy. We can in fact become the principal players. It is our nation and continent that will drive the next stage of global economic progress and we can do so by becoming the first truly green civilization in the world.

“How? First by recognising the opportunity earlier and developing all the potentials around our natural resources including natural gas, of course, solar, and biofuels. We must in particular leverage our renewable energy potential. Work actively on green technologies, carbon removal, and green manufacturing and we have the young and resourceful workforce that can enable that to happen very quickly.

“Africa is the place where we can sensibly and economically go ahead with green civilisation. Nowhere else has that potential and the reason why that is so is because everywhere else we are the lowest emitters today. If you are going to do anything in terms of the green energy future, you should start from a low-emission base, and that low-emission base is here in Africa. We have the natural resources to do so.”