Despite electricity being essential in today’s world, about 600 million Africans still lack access.
A January 2025 United Nations Sustainable Development Group report indicated that this number represents nearly half the continent’s population and more than 80% of the global electricity access gap.
To address the challenges contributing to this problem, the Africa Sustainable Energy Centre (ASEC) hosted a webinar on Friday under the theme Bridging Africa’s Energy Access Gap – Challenges, Innovations and the Path Forward’.
Speakers during the dialogue called for a shift in political will in addressing the energy crises, stating that leadership failures were major contributors to the crises.
Certified Energy Manager Dr Alfred Ofosu Ahenkorah explained that for energy to be accessible, governments must spearhead programs and infrastructure, which can allow individuals or communities to contribute.
Leaders should be held responsible if they are not in a position to achieve a higher electricity access rate, Dr Ahenkorah noted.
Meanwhile, Prof Sambo agreed that leaders had failed to make electricity accessible but limited financial and economic constraints of governments were also major factors.
Prof Sambo noted that governments divide tight budgets among the industries, leaving very little public funds available for capital-intensive energy infrastructure projects.
This, he said, has forced rural communities, especially, to depend on inadequate and ageing infrastructure, outdated power grids and undeveloped networks in the transmission and distribution sectors.
He added that although private sector participation could bridge this gap, it remains stunted due to a range of perceived and real risks.
“Moreover, the energy sector in many African countries, particularly in rural areas, often promises low or uncertain financial returns due to dispersed populations and low energy demand densities,” he said.
Also, the board chairman of the United Bank of Africa, Kweku Awotwi, stated that aside from these challenges, many countries are now recognising that the provision of electricity is less a social service and more of a profit-making venture.
Both Mr Awotwi and Prof Sambo indicated that these challenges could be addressed more effectively if there is a strong resolve from African leaders.
Mr Awotwi said that in recognising the need to be profit-making and sustainable, it “requires a certain amount of political will from our political leaders who worry about votes and worry that we have to keep the price of electricity down.”
“At the same time, it means that we don’t manage our state-mandated institutions well, because there still remains a lot of political interference. And we also don’t charge the right cost-reflective tariffs to recover the cost of maintaining these things.”
Meanwhile, Senior Energy Economist at the Policy Centre for the New South, Sabrine Emran, advised against using a ‘one-solution-fit-all’ attitude to solving power crises.
She explained that although Africa is one continent, there are different geographic assets, challenges, and opportunities made available by the conditions, lands, people and as such, the energy crises cannot be fixed by looking at the continent through one lens.
“I like to think about Morocco and other countries that have exceeded their electrification and not as listen givers, but more as examples of what has worked in specific contexts and can be applicable for countries that have similarities…but there is always a need to assess what could work for specific contexts and what could make it more successful in other examples.”
Sabrine Emran also addressed the issue of sustainable energy, stating that Africa, at the moment, needs to focus on making energy accessible.
“You cannot afford to think about going green before developing your economic capabilities, because sometimes you need to go beyond poverty to think about what sources of energy I’m going to be relying on.”
“So, I think we need to remove the kind of shame and demystify which sources of energy access we would get energy from and just focus on having energy access available for Africans to have access to what is needed and what is basic,” he emphasised.
Meanwhile, an Energy and Environment specialist, Daniel Bungey, emphasised earlier arguments, noting that in the presence of long-term strategic vision with a political commitment to drive energy access, everything else falls into place.
“Kenya, if you look at what has really made a difference in the past couple of years, look at 2013, we were talking about access rates of less than 30% on average and almost 16% in rural areas.”
“There was an initiative that was tied to a vision blueprint of 2030 development, where a combination of different energy solutions was coined and added very strong political support that delivered access within a decade, an increase from that 30% to up to where we are right now, almost 80%, and in the mix, we’re talking about 90% renewables.”
Mr Bungey said that it is important for nations to have a policy framework, leadership and support that enables even the smallest of solutions to be implemented adding “to innovate, to experiment, to try, to fail, and to have that support that is guaranteeing continuity and guaranteeing increased access.”
