Africa’s total population is projected by Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data, to reach about 2.5 billion by 2050. As of 2020, the continent’s total population stood at around 1.34 billion, with Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Egypt as the most populous countries.
According to Statista, Africa would experience population explosion in the coming years, reaching nearly the Asian population by 2100. As a result of its growing population and quest for industrialization, energy demand in Africa is projected to rise to between 30 and 35 percent.
However, despite having over 125 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and over 600 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of proven gas reserves, the continent continues to suffer energy poverty.
In its 2022 Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report, published in June 2022, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that about 568 million people in Africa do not have access to electricity and Sub-Saharan Africa’s share of the global population without electricity rose to 77 percent in 2020 from 71 percent in 2018.
Africa needs to utilize its huge energy resources to address issues around energy poverty, youth unemployment, high rate of poverty, poor infrastructure and drive economic development on the continent. But to achieve this, key stakeholders in the energy sector strongly believe that there is a need for collaborations across countries for local content development.
Currently, Intra-African trade is said to be less than 17 percent. This is far below what is obtainable in Europe and Asia. For instance, more than three quarters of the trade conducted by Luxembourg (85.8 %), Slovakia (79.3 %) and Czechia (77.2 %) in 2021 was with intra-EU partners. Also, there were 15 additional Member States where the share of intra-EU trade in total trade hovered around 60-75 percent. This is according to data by Eurostat.
So, harnessing Africa’s energy resources, stakeholders say, demands collaborations and partnerships through local content development. And the time to start building bridges is now!
Our cover story in this edition, focuses on collaborations and partnerships through local content development in Africa. Other interesting updates are available.
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