The Secretary General of the African Petroleum Producers’ Organisation (APPO), Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim, has underscored the need for Africa to continue to invest in the oil and gas industry to fast-track the socioeconomic development of the millions of people in Africa.
According to him, relying on Europeans, Asians and Americans to always lead in investing in the oil and gas sector would slack the rapid development of Africa.
Dr Ibrahim, who is a former Nigerian Governor of OPEC and Executive Board Member of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum GECF between 2015 to 2020, illustrated his argument by using the Singapore story which happened over 40 years ago to spiral her industrial drive.
He noted that Africa is endowed with oil and gas resources. Therefore, he urged stakeholders in the industry to swiftly collaborate with governments on the continent to pool resources together and invest in the improvement of millions of lives.
“Where you have a situation where 60% or more of your people just down there can’t fully participate in the economy and maybe 20% are so-called middle class, and then, just a few control the resources seriously, the country cannot change for the better,” he asserted.
Dr Ibrahim urged the continent to use a concerted effort to empower the people over a specified period and the government should subsidise oil and gas to help change the development foundations of the continent.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com