By Eyo Nsima
African oil and gas producing countries, said they would continue to explore and produce natural gas for development, despite the quest for Energy transition, globally.

Speaking at the VIP and Ministerial Symposium of this year’s Africa Oil Week, in Cape Town, South Africa, the former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe kachukwu, said: “We need an Afrocentric Energy transition. Africa must look after its own interests. We must be fair to ourselves.
“We must not pace ourselves according to emotion,” he said. “Our transition must be driven by Afrocentrism – by what is in the best interests of Africa’s people.”

The South African Mineral Resources and Energy Minister, Gwede Mantashe, said: “We need an energy mix that will sustain our development. The real issue is in the detail of that transition. The African energy transition must be systemic, it must be people-centric, and it must be community focused.”

The Uganda Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa, said: “Some members of the international community are opposing this. It is like they are asking Africa to be poor. Oil and gas are an asset that we plan to use to lift our people out of poverty in Uganda.
“Investors must make money – we have no problem with that. But they must also add value in the African communities where they operate.”

Similarly, in his keynote remarks, Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union, said: “We must ensure that we are the ones setting the African agenda and not blindly following someone else’s agenda. Africa has never been a climate denier. We want to work with the world and for the world.”