The president of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, has said Africa’s structural lack of energy can be fixed in 10 years. In an interview with Emerging Markets, the new president said he was concerned about the impact of the looming rise in US interest rates and its impact on countries’ debt, and that he would seek to reduce the continent's dependency on natural resources.
“The real issue is that Africa should not repeat the same mistake time and time again. It is very important that Africa knows how not to export [just] raw materials,” he said.
But he said immediate actions would be taken to fix the continent’s crippling energy shortage issues. “My focus will be to support African countries to industrialise. In order to do this, you need energy,” said Adesina, who recently launched the so-called New Deal on Energy for Africa, a drive to provide universal access to energy by 2025. “If you have access to electricity, it is easier for you to industrialise,” he said.
Adesina assumed the presidency of the Abidjan-based AfDB last month, and, according to one of his advisers, “has hit the ground running”.
Adesina said resources must be mobilised domestically to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. “It would cost an average of about $50bn a year to be able to fix Africa’s energy problems. It may look like a lot but I do not think it is. Because today, Africa collects tax revenues of about $545bn a year. If we devote 10% of that to the energy sector every year, the problem is solved, just like that. I believe we can mobilise the resources internally,” he said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has also emphasised the role of clean energy. “Close to a quarter of our portfolio in Africa is targeted to energy,” said Makhtar Diop, Africa director at the World Bank. “We need cheap energy for the diversification of our economies. As we are moving towards COP-21, Africa can do two things: with the support of the international community continue access and production of electricity, reduce prices and do it in a sustainable way."