President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday urged African nations to collaborate towards achieving a sustainable green energy future as the world is looking at moving away from fossil fuels towards clean energy sources.
Buhari, who was represented by the minister of mines and steel development, Arc. Olamilekan Adegbite, at the maiden Nigeria- African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit (NAFNIS 2022) on Wednesday, welcomed various African nationals who had come to Abuja to brainstorm and create a platform for further collaboration.
He said, “Today’s convention is indeed important. Africa requires a huge amount of energy generation to drive its development, even as the world shifts away from fossil fuel to clean and renewable energy sources, in the fight against climate change. In the midst of this energy transition lies many challenges and opportunities for a continent yearning for development.
“I believe this should spur us as a continent of diverse people to co-operate and collaborate more, initiate innovative solutions to the challenges that are peculiar to us, come up with technologies and products that will lead to the growth and industrialisation of Africa in a more environmentally friendly manner while encouraging the development and financing of green energy projects.”
The Energy Investment Summit with the theme: “Towards a Greener Africa” is slated to run till June 3, 2022 in Abuja, and will include presentations by energy stakeholders, panel sessions, and keynote addresses by industry players.
The president further called on all countries who are signatories to the declaration of cooperation to strengthen their shared goals.
“We must strive to remain committed to our joint statements in the Declaration of Cooperation and ensure continuity. This is beyond attaining short-term, demand-supply balancing, while it calls for strengthening our cooperation through a dynamic and transparent framework for sustainable development in the medium to long term.
“Our joint meetings and activities will support us in formulating favourable policy and strategy development for the natural resource sector as the world looks towards a greener future, a policy that is less subject to extremes, both today and in the future. These technical meetings will undoubtedly form an integral part of this critical process,” he concluded.
Some of the participants at the summit include the ministers of mines and energy from Ethiopia, South Sudan, Gambia, Libya, Kenya, Chad, and Nigeria’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Zubairu Dada, among other industry stakeholders.
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