…Charges APPO to embrace alternative and clean energy
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
26 July 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has asserted that soon the continent’s dependence on crude oil will become irrelevant, adding that the days in which no single revenue would be generated from crude oil were fast approaching.
Osinbajo, who said this at the opening ceremony of the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers of African Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO), in Abuja, also unveiled the logo of the Nigeria Petroleum Summit while announcing that from February 2018 Nigeria will host annually a world class International Petroleum Summit in Abuja.
Noting that the volatility in the global crude oil market has triggered much soul-searching, the Acting President said countries across continents are compelled to ask themselves difficult but necessary questions about the present and the future.
He said, “This session holds at a very significant time for our continent and countries. A time when we as a continent and indeed the rest of the world are witnessing volatility in the petroleum market, and by implication, our local economies.
“Over the last three years or so, oil producing countries across the world have experienced the full impact of the drop in oil prices, with significant negative impact on government revenues and budgets and of the value of national currencies.”
Osinbajo noted that “Besides, the reality of the future, where demands for and revenues from oil drop sharply, is already upon us; and almost every major oil importing country today has embarked on an aggressive non-fossil fuel alternative programme.
“Almost every major oil importing country today has embarked on an aggressive non-fossil fuel alternative programme. China, Japan and some Scandinavian states have already set dates within the next 10 to 15 years to produce and use only electric vehicles. The zero oil days are clearly around the corner.”
noted that although the prosperity of Africa lies in its human resources and talents, and not in anything extracted from the earth, it was still important to upgrade to the trending technologies across the globe.
“As the world begins to move in the direction of alternative and clean energy, the reform of the APPO should factor in these new realities and aim to reposition the organisation as a clear leader in this regard,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Acting has expressed Nigeria’s full support for the reform process that will enable the African Petroleum Producers Organisation to rise up fully and adapt to the changing global realities and the global economic order.
Osinbajo said that the Organization, after thirty years of service to member countries, should be able to fashion out and implement a bold programme of reforms, which should be able to place its members at an advantage in the global economic order.
He noted that the reforms being presently pursued by the body are a step in the right direction
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, buttressed the acting President’s points, as he noted that crude oil was on the verge of fading away as a result of improvements in technology
Kachikwu said, “Technology is moving at a fast pace. The oil world is fast disappearing. With current trends in technology and environmental concerns, it is clear that over the next 20 to 30 years, oil will become a fading if not a faded product.
“Which means that most countries that harbour oil have only about 30 years’ span to harness, explore, find and enjoy the full benefits of oil. Because after that, most consumers of oil would have moved on to a cleaner source of energy.”
He told ministers and delegates from other countries that it had become absolutely imperative for member countries of the APPO to start looking at the African crude oil market and to fashion out ways of protecting and expanding it.