Energy Equity: Africa’s Power Future Must Be Forged on Its Own Terms

By NJ Ayuk

Vilifying fossil fuels has become fashionable in certain circles these days. Take United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, who recently equated them with war, pollution, and climate catastrophe.

The only path toward 21st-century peace, he proclaimed, lies in an accelerated renewables-based energy transition – and African gas exploration be damned in the process.

Exploring for gas and oil anywhere in the world, he declared, is nothing short of “delusional.”

Strong words from a man whose native Portugal emits 4.34 metric tons of CO₂ per capita – more than double Brazil’s figure, despite Brazil having 20 times the population, and more than five times the per capita emissions of the entire African continent.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Africa cannot shut down the economic engine of fossil fuels without first revving up its renewables capacity. That transition demands time, support, and substantial capital – along with the autonomy to prioritize our own needs and our own people.

Does anyone genuinely believe the European Union will honor its US$15 billion pledge to Africa for clean energy? Do we expect them to accelerate disbursements simply because the G20 recommends it?

I am not holding my breath. And Africa shouldn’t either.

The Scope of Africa’s Energy Crisis

Energy poverty extends far beyond Africa’s borders. According to the International Energy Agency, nearly 760 million people worldwide still lack electricity access – and four out of five live in sub-Saharan Africa.

While energy poverty declines globally, it worsens across much of our continent. The situation grows particularly dire in western and eastern regions, where electrification rates languish at 59 percent and 54 percent respectively, according to our 2026 Outlook Report.

Countries confronting the most severe access gaps – including Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Niger, and South Sudan – each register electrification rates below 30 percent.

How does this persist in our supposedly high-tech world? And why does Africa struggle more acutely than other developing regions?

Consider this thought experiment: If more than half of Europe lacked regular electricity access, would we tolerate it?

The answer thunders back: absolutely not. Yet this constitutes the daily reality for 600 million Africans.

The New Face of Paternalism

When Western voices demand a blanket moratorium on oil and gas exploration worldwide – including across Africa – they advocate, whether consciously or not, for Africans to remain precisely where we are: mired in energy poverty, the bedrock of every other deprivation.

These narratives aren’t merely dangerous; they are profoundly unjust. I don’t attribute every challenge to colonialism, but let’s acknowledge the pattern emerging here.

Instructing a continent that still lacks basic electricity access to forgo the very resources the West exploited to construct its prosperity? That begins to resemble a new species of control – a contemporary means of declaring: “This is your place. Remain there.”

Africa deserves the identical right every nation claimed: to harness all available energy resources to elevate its people from poverty.

Because energy kindles hope. Energy unlocks opportunity. Energy transforms nations.

From solar to gas, hydropower to hydrogen, wind to oil – every energy source plays a vital role in ensuring universal power access. The question isn’t whether Africa will develop its resources.

It’s whether the world will support us in doing so equitably – or continue masquerading moral lectures as climate policy while 600 million Africans sit in darkness.

The choice reveals far more about Western priorities than it does about Africa’s future.