RT reported a short interview it had with Nj Ayuk on Oct. 14, on the sidelines of the Oct. 11-13 Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow. Ayuk, who comes from Cameroon, is the CEO of the African Energy Chamber, and is the founder and CEO of the Centurion Law Group, a Pan-African law firm that focuses on the energy, financial, and extractive sectors.
He noted the similarities in that both Africa and Russia have huge oil and gas reserves, which, if properly developed and utilized, could lay the basis for industrial development for all countries of Africa. “Russia went from a net importer of grain to a net exporter of grain. They use their natural gas, they produce urea, ammonia, NPK fertilizers [and] power their plants so that they can feed themselves. They pipe gas around the country to provide electricity. They use pipelines to connect, they have energy infrastructure. So when you look at that road of what Russia has been able to do—that can be replicated, Russian equipment can be used across Africa,” Ayuk said.
Ayuk “noted that for a market as big as Africa, roughly 1.4 billion people, Russia’s know-how in the energy sphere would be of tremendous benefit. ‘Using [Russia’s] skillset, technology, transferring it into Africa … we just have to drive it forward.’ According to Ayuk, ‘there is already big political support for engaging Russia’ on energy projects in Africa.”
RT further quoted him as saying: “Gas is going to define Africa in the next 50 years… You are going to see some really big exchange between Russia and Africa….
“We have to put action into our words because people … in Africa, they are expecting more from us. The industry has to change. It can’t be the industry of the elites—it has to be the industry where people do matter and that’s what should drive us.”
The average percentage of access to electricity for the continent is 57%, but it should be noted that in the poorer countries, such as Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Malawi, Niger, and South Sudan, less than 20% of their population has access to electricity.
