By Emmanuel Ijikanmi
African energy experts have called for a shift from energy transition to economic transformation, urging governments to link renewable energy investments to industrialisation, job creation and local capacity development.
The experts made the call at the inaugural Energy Transition Africa (ETA) Colloquium 2026, held virtually on Thursday, with the theme: “Transition or Transformation? What Will the New Energy Economy Mean for Africa’s Development”
They said that Africa’s energy transition should not be measured solely by electricity generation, renewable energy installations or investments attracted, but by its impact on industries, skills, businesses and livelihoods.
Vincent Egoro, the Founder and Executive Director of ETA, said Africa’s greatest challenge was turning ambition into capability and capability into opportunity.
He said energy investments must deliver benefits beyond infrastructure development by creating jobs, strengthening institutions and enabling African businesses to compete, grow and retain more economic value locally.
Egoro described engineers, technicians, researchers, entrepreneurs and regulators as the human infrastructure needed to sustain Africa’s energy transition.
In his keynote address, Yagouba Traoré, Head of Policy Planning and Strategy at the African Energy Commission of the African Union, said nearly 600 million Africans lacked electricity access.
He added that close to one billion Africans relied on firewood, charcoal or kerosene for cooking.
Traoré said Africa’s abundant solar, wind, hydropower and geothermal resources, critical minerals and youthful population offered opportunities to accelerate industrialisation and strengthen its position in global energy value chains.
Traoré also called for greater African participation in determining the terms of the global energy transition.
Ejiro Gray, the Executive Director of Governance and Sustainability at Sahara Group, said the distinction between transition and transformation depended on whether energy investments built lasting economic capabilities or merely delivered infrastructure.
Gray said Africa needed to measure the economic value retained locally through procurement, technical expertise, technology development, productive energy use and access to capital.
She urged stakeholders to look beyond megawatts generated or oil and gas produced when assessing the benefits of energy investments.
She added that African companies needed opportunities to develop competitive capabilities rather than depend indefinitely on imported expertise.
Dr Chantal Naidoo, the Founder and Executive Director of Rabia Transitions, said financing arrangements could determine whether Africa’s energy transition delivered equitable development or reinforced existing economic dependencies.
She warned that investment agreements should protect national interests and ensure communities shared in the benefits of energy development.
Naidoo called for financing arrangements that prioritised social protection, distributed risks more fairly and supported integrated energy systems rather than isolated projects driven primarily by commercial returns.
Maybel Acquaye, Policy Lead for Minerals and Mining Policy at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, said African countries should use the energy transition to expand productive economic activities and develop local enterprises.
Acquaye said investments in clean cooking, solar irrigation and electric mobility could create opportunities for local businesses, improve agricultural productivity and generate employment.
She said these benefits would depend on appropriate policies and skills development.
Acquaye urged governments to identify commercially viable opportunities within energy value chains, strengthen partnerships between industries and educational institutions, and promote regional cooperation to reduce production costs and improve competitiveness.
Dr Bala Tyoden, Head of the Research and Development Unit at the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), said electricity access alone did not guarantee economic transformation.
He stressed the importance of reliable supply, maintenance and productive electricity use.
In an address on behalf of the agency’s Managing Director, Tyoden said Nigerians spent an estimated N16.5 trillion on petrol, diesel and generators to provide their electricity in 2023.
He said the expenditure illustrated the economic burden of unreliable power supply.
Tyoden highlighted challenges involving renewable energy asset maintenance, rural electricity access and the need to connect electricity supply with productive activities.
He cited rice milling, cassava processing and other small businesses as examples of activities that could benefit from reliable electricity.
Tyoden said the REA needed to strengthen asset management, improve performance monitoring and support sustainable electricity markets.
He added that successful rural electrification depended on keeping infrastructure operational and ensuring electricity supported livelihoods.
Four ETA fellows also presented research examining financing, community participation and electricity infrastructure challenges across Africa.
Edward “Teddy” Odindo, a clean cooking modelling expert at Kenya’s Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, said Africa’s clean cooking challenge involved insufficient financing and a shortage of investment-ready projects.
He said such projects were needed to attract capital and expand access to clean cooking solutions.
Odindo called for clearer responsibility for developing clean cooking investment opportunities, identifying market constraints and helping projects progress from planning to financial close.
Nozuko Poni, Communications Manager at South Africa’s DG Murray Trust, said communities needed to understand how energy transition projects worked, who benefited from them and how they affected their lives.
Poni recommended incorporating community understanding and ownership into project agreements, supported by independent verification and regular monitoring.
She said the measures would help ensure affected communities participated meaningfully in the transition.
Damilola Olowookere, the Coordinator for Access to Energy at Nigeria’s PIND Foundation, said some Niger Delta host community development trusts had funds earmarked for electricity projects.
Olowookere recommended that the REA establish a register of eligible community trusts and connect them with qualified developers.
Kemoh Lumei, Energy Sector Director at Liberia’s Government-Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact Development Team, said electricity reliability depended on more than generation capacity.
He identified effective maintenance, timely repairs and adequate distribution network support as essential to reliable power supply.
Lumei called for improved maintenance planning, timely provision of repair materials and regular customer satisfaction surveys to address persistent electricity supply problems.
Earlier, Deborah Bonney, a member of ETA’s inaugural fellowship cohort and Deputy Head of Research and Corporate Affairs at Ghana’s Public Utilities Regulatory Commission, moderated the colloquium.
In his closing remarks, Monday Osasah, Board Chair of ETA, congratulated the 14 fellows who completed the inaugural programme.
He described their research as an important contribution to discussions on Africa’s energy future.
Osasah urged the fellows to take their findings beyond the colloquium to inform public debate, support communities and challenge decisions that failed to serve the public interest. (NAN)
Edited by Ese E. Ekama-Williams
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