'We Must Prioritize Our People First': African Oil Executive Challenges Global Interests

The establishment of the Africa Energy Bank was born out of necessity, as global financial institutions have increasingly withdrawn support for fossil fuel projects in favor of renewable energy, Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim, Secretary General, African Petroleum Producers Organization [APPO], tells Sputnik Africa.

For decades, African oil and gas producers have relied on external funding to develop their resources, but this support is no longer forthcoming.

“At a time when Africa holds hundreds of billions of proven crude reserves and hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of gas in our subsoil, and when our continent has the largest proportion of its people living with energy poverty, we need to source our own funds to exploit these resources for the good of our people,” he explains.

Dr. Ibrahim highlights how global narratives often impose interests that do not align with Africa's priorities. He stresses the need for self-reliance and criticizes the notion that global interests should dictate Africa's energy policies.

“For whatever reason, we have been made to believe that without external help, without external support, Africa cannot get out of poverty. The developed countries of the North have always determined their interests and made it appear like the global interest. Why can’t Africa also determine its own interests and pursue what is best for its people? We are not dissociating ourselves from what is best for the world, but we must prioritize our people first,” Dr. Ibrahim asserts.

The oil executive acknowledges significant challenges on both the international and domestic fronts. He criticizes the developed nations for imposing a one-size-fits-all approach to energy transition that ignores Africa's development needs and unique context.

“There are countries that have, in the past 150 years, exploited fossil energy to get developed, to get industrialized, and to move the people from the bottom to the top in terms of living conditions. These are the developed countries of the North, who are insisting that all of us must move at the same pace in the quest for energy transition. And these people are doing everything possible to frustrate developing countries from getting energy to be able to change the living conditions of their people,” he says.

With Abuja, Nigeria, chosen as its headquarters, the Africa Energy Bank promises to be a game-changer for Africa's energy landscape. As Dr. Ibrahim succinctly put it, the Bank's success will hinge on its ability to sustain the oil and gas industry while building a more self-reliant and united continent.

“You will evaluate our success by how much we are able to keep the oil and gas industry running on the African continent, even when those on whom we have been dependent have decided to take away the finances. And this is something that we believe we are going to do and do very well,” he stresses.

In the second segment of this podcast, you can also find:

An interview conducted by a Sputnik Africa correspondent with Dr. Victoria Panova, the Vice Rector of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow and Head of the BRICS Expert Council, to discuss the BRICS proposal for a digital investment platform aimed at reshaping global finance and empowering the economies of the Global South.

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