Although willing to get involved in the fight for the climate despite being the least contributors to global warming, oil and gas countries of sub-Saharan Africa such as Nigeria and Angola, the largest producers in the region, consider that to give up these energies would be to give up development now. the fight against poverty.
“Limiting the development of projects related to fossil fuels, in particular natural gas, would have a profoundly negative impact”Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently declared.
“All countries must participate in the fight against climate change”, but “a global transition away from fossil fuels must take into account the differences between countries and allow diversified transitions towards clean energies”, he estimated.
“For countries like Nigeria, rich in natural resources but poor in energy, the transition must not come at the cost of reliable and affordable energy for the population, cities and industries”he added.
“On the contrary, it must be inclusive and equitable, which means preserving the right to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty,” he insisted.
The promotion of development based on fossil fuels actually runs up against an unfair redistribution of oil and gas revenues found in producing countries.
In Angola, oil represents half of the Gross Domestic Product and 89% of exports, but more than half of its 34 million inhabitants live on less than two dollars a day and the unemployment rate is 31%.
The government of President João Lourenço launched a vast anti-corruption campaign in view of recovering the billions of dollars that it suspects that his predecessor José Eduardo dos Santos diverted, on his behalf and through his children Isabel and José Filomeno.
Another former Portuguese colony in southern Africa, Mozambique, is bidding to accelerate its growth with huge deposits of natural gas discovered in the Indian Ocean along the northern coasts, despite a strong presence of armed jihadist groups.
An environmental activist from Mozambique, Daniel Ribeiro indicates that “if we look at the model of fossil fuels in Africa, it is clear that these have not contributed” to development, but “to debt and corruption.”
According to him, “tax evasion” linked to gas projects favors “the leading elite” of the Mozambique Liberation Front in power since independence in 1975. For this reason, the government “fights all kinds of evolution” to clean energy .
Source From: Ambito
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