Power is Biggest Challenge to Growth in Africa – Dangote

Segun Atanda/

Chairman of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has said that one of the biggest challenges Africa needs to look at is power, calling for urgent attention if governments want to see the continent grow.

Speaking at the ongoing Development Finance Forum (DFF) in Accra, Ghana, Dangote declared: “No power, no growth. We need to make sure we tackle the issue of power.”

The forum, organised by the World Bank Group and the African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET), aims at scaling up private sector investment in Africa.

Dangote said small businesses on the continent can never survive without stable power, when the income or revenue generated is used in purchasing diesel to power and service generators.

“Meanwhile, these generators are meant to be backup or standby. But now the generators are those that are providing consistent power and the grid is now standby,” he bemoaned.

Calling for urgent action to address the continent’s power challenges, Dangote noted: “That does not make sense. For example, the entire state of Kano, with a population of 21million people, has a power supply of less than 35megawatts from the grid. These are the issues we need to deal with. We must make sure that power is available, if not businesses cannot grow.”

Also, speaking at the same forum, Helen Tarnoy, Managing Director, Aldwych International Limited, an energy company, noted that energy and power underpin every other aspects of life and African governments must work harder to provide consistent power at the real cost.

“There are some things that must be done. In places that they are being done, we are seeing changes. In Kenya, consumers of power pay the cost of power. Where countries and governments are reluctant to raise tariffs and cover the cost of generating power, you see enormous deficits and lack of power,” she added.

President Nana Addo Dankwa-Akufo Addo, in his opening address, noted that government is in the process of formalising the economy through the implementation of a digital property addressing system for Ghana and also the issuance of biometric National Identification cards to residents so that every resident will have a unique identification number.

Touching on energy and power generation, the president added: “We have encouraged majority Ghanaian private sector participation in the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), the main distributor of power in Ghana, under the Millennium Challenge Compact with the U.S. Government.

“Government has reviewed existing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Our policy is to move Ghana from a reliance on thermal towards renewable energy. We have, thus, decided that new PPAs will only be signed for renewable energy.”

The event brought together more than 300 public and private sector leaders from around the world to identify constraints and opportunities to developing a vibrant private sector that supports infrastructure, technology, agribusiness, manufacturing and job creation.

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