A former Secretary General of African Petroleum Producers Association, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, has criticised organisers of the African Oil Week for deciding to host the continent’s flagship oil event in Dubai, UAE, in November 2021.
“Africans need to know that our dignity should not be given away. This is a clear sign of poor leadership. Africa will not reach its global potential if we continue to see supposedly investment promotion-focused organisations abandoning the continent at the smallest challenge,” H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya said.
“The African Oil Industry is at the cross roads, and going into COP26, we need to have an African agenda on energy transition and energy poverty. These discussions cannot be had in Dubai. African Petroleum Producers and other energy producers should distance themselves from this initiative of taking Africans to Dubai,” he further added.
H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, who is also a former Petroleum Minister of the Niger Republic, described the organiser’s decision as a “humiliating idea”.
Mr. Gaya encouraged the idea of bringing African representatives and its global strategic partners to an African location to debate and find solutions and synergies to address the continent’s challenges and showcase its opportunities.
He condemned AOW’s lack of good leadership.
With this in mind, he passionately suggested that governments and organisations alike should enforce a mandate of promotion and development of the oil and gas industry by standing up for it when it is necessary and lead the rest of the world by example.
In a dedicated approach, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya railed behind the African Energy Chamber, the Mozambican Oil and Gas Chamber and many others against the move of the pan-African event and called on the international community to support this cause.
Source: www.energynewsafrica.com
