Oscar Kimanuka
3 December 2007
column
Nairobi — The current skyrocketing world price for oil is getting closer to an unbelievable figure of $100 - the highest in recent years - and this is bringing our economies to their knees.
This increase in oil prices is fuelling economic problems and neutralising our hard-earned gains from poverty reduction programmes, international development and even debt relief efforts.
Many of our towns go dark when the sun goes down. Students shut their books and families finish their daily chores and settle down to sleep. This serious shortage of energy is a huge obstacle to development and puts off foreign investors.
IT IS NOW ESTIMATED that nearly 745 million Africans who use firewood and animal waste to cook their meals do not have access to electricity.
Across our continent, countries pin their hopes on the upward mobility of the urban poor - a hope that is shared across the length and breadth of the globe. But the urban poor and working classes are just high enough up the economic ladder to marginally benefit from basic modern services.
Poverty has increased as much as 6 per cent in some parts of the world due to the hike in oil prices. Especially vulnerable are the debt-ridden countries in Africa, which rely on oil imports to fuel their fragile economies.
INTERESTINGLY, THE POO-rest countries in the world consume an almost negligible share of the millions of barrels of oil consumed every day globally, yet they are the worst hit by rising world oil prices - and then again by the effects of climate change associated with the burning of hydrocarbons.
There is good news now coming from the World Bank, that it intends to bring electricity to nearly 250 million Africans by the year 2025. This initiative, dubbed "Lighting Africa," includes a $12 million competition to design the best business model for providing light to Africans.
It hopes to do for cheap low-energy lighting what entrepreneurs have already done for cellphones.
However, the ultimate solution to our energy problems may lie in investing in a clean energy future, which will promote long-term economic growth and built-in capacity for self-reliance.
Oscar Kimanuka is a commentator on social and economic issues based in Kigali.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The East African. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
