'A Good Start': African Energy Chamber Chairman 'Really Impressed' With Russia–Africa Summit

"It was the discussions around financing. Former President Dilma [Rousseff] of Brazil, who leads the BRICS bank, being able to lay out a clear framework on how the BRICS bank is going to function. And with that, an Africa that is big. And Professor Oramah of Afrexim[bank], [and] having those discussions is really good," Ayuk shared .

"But I think there is some enthusiasm in the air with Africa and Russia because we've always had a unique relationship, and they just want to take and take it more. And I like that. I like that we built a coming together, but also dealing with key issues like wheat, food to ensure that Africa's food security is going to be better forefront, and we can start producing more," he said.

"So it's been a good start. And I'm really impressed by what we see," he outlined.

"Let's not forget, 600 million Africans don't have access to electricity; 900 million don't have access to clean cooking technologies, most of them women. We need to instill that as a human rights issue. But, being able to provide affordable, reliable baseload energy for Africa is so key," the official explained.

"Today, Russia is exporting one-third of the wheat across the world. That is something that is inspiring, and we would expect that Africa could transform itself using natural gas, Russian technology, Russian skill sets, Russia's know-how to transfer that and build and have a petrochemical industry like what the Russians have built and then build agriculture industry so that we can feed ourselves," chairman of the African Energy Chamber said.

"The biggest challenges right now is the chokehold on financing. We hear it from wealthy countries telling us that we should leave the gas in the ground, we are not going to finance gas. And that is big for Africa. You know, you cannot tell the poorest countries that you can’t finance. […] Yes, the chokehold on financing that we've seen from modern and Western financial institution has not been good for Africa. But at the same time, they are financing the same gas in developed countries, and they open that up. That is not fair," he emphasized.

"And the message that we got here in Russia was that you need to become self-sufficient because of stories about [Russians] becoming sort of self-sufficient with energy, with food," he stressed. "It is something that is inspiring, and I think Africa needs to copy that."

"I’ve seen Gazprom has been in good discussions with a lot of African countries. The Russian Ministry of Energy is talking to a lot of African countries. They are looking at pipeline deals around the Congo. They are looking at picking some of their onshore fields that are walk in. And I think people will be surprised to see the level and the number of agreements that come out of this," he explained.

"We are going to engage with Russians, and we're pushing African countries and companies to engage technology transfer. [...] Technology transfer, capacity building, because when you train a man, [...] then they [will] be able to do for themselves when you expect someone else to do for them. It's not necessarily about giving 1 billion, 2, 10, 40 billion dollars to an African country. That will not get us into energy independence," he stated.

"So we need to be able to look at these young people and don't look at them as destitute people no one should think about. But be able to raise them up, train them, give them skills, so they would be able to become the new drivers of an African energy revolution, because that can only happen with skillful, well-trained people that can then turn around and become innovative and creative. Because this is the time when we've seen more innovation going around the world, but we need to get our people there," Ayuk elaborated.

"We need baseload, that’s the key. So if you look at what you see in South Africa or across Africa, nuclear energy is cleaner, varied, very, very beautiful stuff, you know, and you can have that baseload energy that is going to really be able to even power communities, power industry only for a longer term even than gas and even than coal. So we are the African Energy Chamber. We just embraced nuclear energy. We signed an agreement with the World Nuclear Council. We are going to continue to look at peaceful use of nuclear energy for power generation. It is a part of the energy that we need to make energy poverty history," the official outlined.

"But I think now the world is bigger. It's open. It's not just one way. We are no longer colonies. We are independent, free nations. And I think your representation of Africans being here today reflects that, because there also was a lot of resistance, telling to their leadership 'don't go to Russia.' And then this is a time when we are saying, don't tell us where you go," he stressed .

"But I always say – our father, one of our greatest leaders, Nelson Mandela, he taught us one thing – your enemies do not have to be our enemies. Russia has been very, very important for African's liberation, Africa's growth, African freedom. When nobody was there. You can’t tell us today and say 'you turn away from people who fought with you to liberate you and make you free men, and not be a colony'. And you can’t say 'now you hate your fellow freedom fighter'. It's not going to happen," he concluded.