There is no such thing as a Just Energy Transition, affirmed Africa Oil Week Ambassador, and former Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and former Group MD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, in his keynote address at the Ministerial & VIP Symposium in Cape Town on Monday, which preceded the Africa Oil Week and Green Energy Africa Summit, starting Tuesday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Rather than a just transition, the continent needed an Afrocentric energy transition. If the world moved away from its current energy mix, Africa would be left behind. “The difficulty Africa has, is that we are often three steps behind.”

The continent had no control over global finances and markets. Global financial institutions were turning their backs on fossil fuel projects. African countries had to look to protecting their own interests. Local financing would be required, otherwise financing African energy projects would become exorbitantly expensive.

African countries hadn’t diversified their economies. It was even the case that, across the continent, many oil and gas refineries weren’t functioning. African states simply hadn’t prepared themselves for what was happening. But Arab countries had prepared for the energy transition.

There was a need a create an African energy market. That would require infrastructure, and in this regard, he urged cooperation with Arab states. The Arabs had money, he pointed out, but Africa had markets.

He cited the importance of natural gas, which Africa possessed in abundance. He pointed out that natural gas still had a life of 30 to 35 years in terms of international usage and so export markets. The continent should now focus on gas, with oil seen as a local asset, not an export asset.

While most of the world was aiming at a transition period to low-carbon energy of between 25 years and 30 years, for Africa it had to be longer. He suggested that the continent needed a 50-year to 55-year transition period. “We need a way driven not by justice but by Afrocentricity,” he asserted.

Africans had to look at how they could grow their local oil and gas companies, as the global majors exited the fossil fuels business. Incentives needed to be created to encourage investment in the African oil and gas sector. And African countries had to diversify their hydrocarbon production, refining the correct fuels for the continent.

Africa should not bother with what was just or fair. “Remember Afrocentricism – that’s very important,” he urged. “Let’s look at what Africa needs to survive.”