Energy Poverty and Africa free Trade (AfCFTA)

It is evident that the basis of development for any Nation or continent is hinged on the availability of energy, which promotes manufacturing processes and enables employment as the population is engaged in creativity and commercialization of products. These measures boost the economy on different levels.

To put things in perspective, creating free movement of people, goods and services are important for any nation to thrive. What should be analyzed and fixed is the important role energy plays in making that realized and renewable energy is not sufficient enough to power heavy production machines/plants. 

The first measure is to concentrate on building refineries within the countries that can produce hydrogen gas (clean energy) and oil, the countries with mining resources should focus on establishing factories with safety policies in place to protect land, property, and the people from harsh effect resulting from activities. These are ways nations generate wealth, and it is not rocket science. The continent of Africa is full of intelligent and innovative young minds that can make this happen.

When a system works, it empowers the masses and generates wealth from different angles. What is evidently lacking on the continent is transparency and accountability of funds, with no punishable measures for defaulters. Obviously, borrowing money and paying back with mineral resources has been the game for a long time. Collecting aid has not also helped as it is a means of losing self-worth and creating dependency. Take some lessons from President Kagame of Rwanda and place our priorities right.

In the video above, Nicolas tells about Africa being the fastest growing economy in the world, a fact well known.

With Stability in power (energy) generation, all sectors can run simultaneously generating wealth, creating employment, increasing the earning power of people, promoting creativity, increasing production of food to reduce food scarcity, promoting export of excess food and goods, reducing import of goods, making the AfCFTA more effective and meaningful. Long term growth can be achieved by implementing working policies and using all the necessary factors of production.