Characterised by limited access to modern energy services with majority of the population relying on the traditional solid fuels (biomass) to meet their cooking and heating needs, the villages of Gaya Silkami and Fa’a Gaya are beneficiaries to a power non-grid rural communities with solar based energy services.
Courtesy of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) under the Sustainable Energy for All (Se4All) initiative, the two neighbouring rural communities in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State who are still smarting from the effects of an attack last year by the Boko Haram sect, have been given an energy lifeline that is improving health services, providing potable water, illuminating the community and boosting mobile communication.
Outdoor community lighting in Gaya SilkamiSolar panels on the roof of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) Arewa Diocese Gartsanu Maternity Clinic, Gartsanu GayaSolar fridge-freezer at the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) Arewa Diocese Gartsanu Maternity Clinic, Gartsanu GayaSolar freezer at the Gaya Silkami Primary Health Care CentrePatients at the Gaya Silkami Primary Health Care CentreWater supply in Gaya SilkamiAlhaji Abba Saleh, a representative of the Head of Service of Hong LGA (left) with Manaseh Gachanunaya, a junior community health extension worker (JCHEW) at the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) Arewa Diocese Gartsanu Maternity Clinic, Gartsanu Gaya
Project signpostYoung faces at Gaya SilkamiL-R: Mallam Ja’afaru Biyma, a representative of the village head in Gaya Silkami; Alhaji Abba Saleh, a representative of the Head of Service of Hong LGA; Javan Zakaria, clinic-in-charge at the Gaya Silkami PHCC; and Sunday Igoche, project contractorOkon Ekpenyong, an engineer and deputy director with the ECN (right) sharing a point with Mallam Ja’afaru Biyma (left) and Javan Zakaria
Two rural communities in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State in Northeast Nigeria are effectively recovering from the ravages of insurgency, thanks to an energy lifeline that is improving health services, providing potable water, illuminating the community and boosting mobile communication.
The water supply facility in Gaya Silkami
In February 2015, rampaging Boko Haram militants invaded the villages of Fa’a Gaya and Gaya Silkami. While the former was caught unawares and suffered considerable human and material casualty, the latter had gotten wind of the attack and villagers sought refuge in the nearby mountains for some days before trekking for hundreds of kilometres – in the dead of the night on foot – to Hong. Some were able to make it to Yola, the state capital.
With the insurgency subsiding, normalcy now appears to be returning to the communities as the villagers are returning to their homes, and picking up the pieces of their lives.
But the darkness awaiting them is, to their relief, being lit up, courtesy of an initiative aimed at expanding access of local communities to modern energy services (such as solar energy) under the Sustainable Energy for All (Se4All) programme being promoted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN).
Most of the houses in both villages – predominantly Kilba tribe – are built with mud blocks and thatched roof, and the villagers live in a cluster. While Gaya Silkami has a population of about 1,345, Fa’a gaye has 830. They are mostly into cattle rearing and cultivation of crops such as maize, groundnut and millet.
The major sources of water supply in the villages include manual water pump, stagnant ponds, run-off streams and rain water. But Se4All has enabled the installation of a solar-powered water borehole along with two 10,000-litre capacity overhead tanks providing clean and potable water supply for the villagers.
Similarly, the villages are not connected to the national grid, making them very dark at night. Residents lack access to – and can’t afford to buy – kerosene to fuel their lamps for night lighting, spend huge amount to purchase batteries for torchlight and very few can afford a generating set. However, 267 solar home systems have been provided the households (167 in Gaya Silkami and 100 in Fa’a Gaya) to provide lighting in the night for security, reading and enable users to charge their mobile phones.
Just like the single Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in Fa’a Gaya, one of the two PHCCs in Gaya Silkami was burnt down by members of the Boko Haram sect during the attacks. While the one in Fa’a Gaya has not been rebuilt since the return of the indigenes, Gaya Silkami’s PHCC has however been reconstructed. Consequently, Solar PV Systems were installed on the roofs of the two PHCCs in Gaya Silkami, and a solar-powered freezer/fridge provided for each of the centres. The systems were installed to provide lighting and power the freezer/fridge in the clinics.
Javan Zakaria, clinic-in-charge at the Gaya Silkami PHCC, said: “Before now, we used to go to Kuva which is about 50km away to get our vaccines. The vaccines can be stored here now because of the solar freezer given to us by the UNDP at no cost. We also have light 24 hours a day.
“We are very grateful for this kind gesture. We didn’t expect to benefit from such a programme because we are in the village. We now have more patients coming to us. In fact, we are now a big clinic.”
Ja’afaru Biyma, a representative of the village head in Gaya Sikalmi, stated: “We are very grateful for the lamps, which we also use to charge our handsets. It has been useful in many situations because it can run for 24 hours after full charge. However, we will very much appreciate it if UNDP and government can provide us with an ambulance.”
Alhaji Abba Saleh, a representative of the Head of Service of Hong LGA, submitted: “We hereby thank the UNDP and ECN for providing us with energy sources to power borehole for water supply, to preserve drugs in the clinics, light our homes and the community and charge our phones. The Pumping machine and the freezer were also provided at no cost. All these will go a long way in improving the quality of life.”
Aliu Idris, Chief Imam of Guw Dutse community, which is several kilometres from Gaya Silkami, said: “Our people come from our village that is over 2km away from here to fetch water from this new facility in Gaye Silkami. We are pleading with the UNDP and ECN to extend this gesture to us as well because we do not have water and we trek a long distance to come here to fetch water.”
Because the PHCCs are government facilities and have the tendency to go on strike at intervals, the Se4All programme has therefore equipped a nearby missionary clinic at Gartsanu Gaya – the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria (LCCN) Arewa Diocese Gartsanu Maternity Clinic – with a solar-powered fridge-freezer that is used to preserve vaccines and drugs, as well as light up the rooms in the health centre.
Manaseh Gachanunaya, a junior community health extension worker (JCHEW) at the clinic, disclosed: “Before now, we had nowhere to store the vaccines so we brought them from Mijidi or Hong which is about two and half hours’ journey from here. Our immunisation was not so good then. But all these have changed as we can now preserve drugs here. We immunise close to 100 children in a day.”
Okon Ekpenyong, an engineer and deputy director with the ECN, said: “Communities that have been driven away by insurgents are now returning. And now that they are returning, it’s like going back into darkness. And when these people return from exile, we at the UNDP/ECN now decided that they want to change the standard of living of the community by providing them with necessary energy for daily living, which include energy for lighting, energy for water supply, energy for primary health care delivery. In that case now we decided that we are going to provide them solar energy because in this case they will not need petrol or kerosene but they will use the natural sunlight. So now we are using this solar to provide them water supply. We are also providing them solar lightening with which they can use to charge their phones.
“In Gaya Silkami, the project has successfully provided about 167 households with over 1,345 people with solar lighting systems which would enable the villagers perform domestic duties effectively at night, charge their mobile phones in the convenience of their homes and help children read at night. With this, the villagers do not have to worry about buying kerosene or dry cell batteries for lighting. The portable water supply would help to improve the health condition of the villager by reducing cases of infection from water-borne diseases, and reduce the number of hours needed by women and children to fetch water from the stream.
“The project also trained some youths in the installation of the solar home systems, and the installation and maintenance of the solar powered borehole. This is a form of job creation for the youths who can now install and maintain some of these facilities for other communities.”
Following in the footsteps of Stockholm and several others, the German city of Berlin is the latest city to pull out of fossil fuels
Aerial view of Berlin skyline
Berlin’s parliament voted on Thursday to pull its money out of coal, gas and oil companies.
The new investment policy, part of the German capital’s goal of completely weaning off carbon by 2050, will force the city’s pension fund – worth $852.8 million, or €750 million – to divest from shares of German oil giants RWE and E.ON, as well as the French behemoth Total.
The move comes a week after Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, vowed to end its investments in fossil fuels companies, making Berlin the seventh major Western city to join a divestment movement that already includes Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Seattle, Portland and Melbourne. In September, New York Mayor Bill de Blasiourged the city’s five pension funds – worth a collective $160 billion – to sell their $33 million exposure to coal, by the far the dirtiest fossil fuel.
A handful of smaller U.S. cities have pledged to curtail fossil fuel investments, too.
“Berlin’s decision to blacklist fossil fuel companies is the latest victory for the divestment movement, which serves to remove the social license from companies whose business model pushes us into climate catastrophe,” Christoph Meyer, a campaigner with environmental non-profit 350.org’s Fossil Free Berlin project, said in a statement. “We will keep a close eye on the administration to make sure it upholds today’s commitment and urge the city to now take quick steps to break its reliance on coal power.”
The decision, hailed as a victory for environmentalists, comes as the divestment movement gains steam in the wake of the historic climate treaty brokered in Paris in December. About 170 nations signed the accord at the United Nations in New York two months ago. More than 500 institutions – including well-endowed universities, pension funds and religious organizations collectively representing $3.4 trillion – have agreed to stop investing in fossil fuels since the campaign began.
The divestments put pressure on fossil fuel companies to take serious steps to reform their businesses as world leaders try to dramatically slash carbon emissions. Without that, global temperatures are likely to rise well above 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, by the end of the century, altering the climate enough to jeopardise the future of human civilisation.
It’s not a particularly contentious move for Berlin. For much of the last decade, Germany has aggressively pushed to transition from an economy powered by fossil fuels to one propelled by clean energy under a policy called Energiewende. As of 2014, the country – considered the economic powerhouse of Europe – generated 26.2 percent of its power from renewables, according to Strom-Report, a project run by a group of German data journalists.
“We’re not alone anymore,” Charly Kleissner, the founder of the KL Felicitas Foundation, a group pushing for divestment from fossil fuels, told the German business newspaper Handelsblatt last week. “The next generation is all in.”
A post-Brexit UK will still have energy ties to the EU, but there will be big changes, writes Sara Stefanini in Politico. She lists five ways Brexit will impact energy and climate
Stepping down: British Prime Minister David Cameron wipes away some sweat as he speaks to business leaders at a recent forum in London. Photo credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Britain’s departure from the EU will force broad changes to the bloc’s energy and climate policies, and remove a crucial ally for Central Europeans — but it will also give London far more freedom to pursue nuclear projects.
The U.K. has often been an energy outlier in the EU, advocating nuclear power and shale gas sources shunned by others. Its alliances tend to shift, always with the aim of keeping interference from Brussels to a minimum and taking an ambitious yet financially minded approach to tackling climate change.
But there’s a lot to lose on both sides of the Channel after Thursday’s vote.
A post-Brexit U.K. will still be tied to the rest of Europe through gas and electricity links and an emissions trading market it is unlikely to ditch, but it will have less influence on the bloc’s decisions. The EU, instead, will lose a strong pro-free market voice, which has historically helped tone down some more statist schemes coming from Continental capitals.
Leaving the EU will relegate the U.K. to a sort of lobby group in Brussels, Swedish Liberal MEP Fredrick Federley told a Politico conference a few days before the referendum.
“It would be sad to see the old empire of the United Kingdom reduced to another Norway,” said Federley, who leads the Emissions Trading System (ETS) reform discussions in the European Parliament’s Industry and Energy Committee. Norwegians “are now lining up outside my office to meet because they want to affect the policies of the ETS — companies, ambassadors, ministers and members of the national parliament.”
Here are the five ways a Brexit will impact energy and climate:
Climate recalibrations
The U.K. has traditionally been a leader on climate policies, in 2008 becoming the first country to set a long-term binding law cutting emissions by 80 percent by 2050 and creating a voluntary carbon emissions market before the EU launched its own bloc-wide system. But if Prime Minister David Cameron steps down (as he’s already done), there’s no promise that leading Leave politicians will follow that high-ambition track.
“While not all Euroskeptics are climate skeptics, few climate skeptics are not also Euroskeptics,” the environmental analysis group E3G said in a private briefing note on the possible effects of the referendum. This means any new government could, for instance, scrap the country’s renewable energy targets and tax on high-polluting power plants.
A post-Cameron leadership could also change the country’s approach to the Paris climate agreement. “It could potentially submit a highly ambitious (nationally determined contribution) to the U.N., it could ramp down its ambition, or it could ignore it, which would be a blow to the whole process,” said Will Nichols, a senior environment and climate change analyst at the risk advisory firm Verisk Maplecroft.
Christiana Figueres, the U.N.’s outgoing climate secretariat chief, agreed earlier this week that a Brexit would force a revisit of the plan EU countries submitted in Paris as a 28-member bloc. “From the point of view of the Paris agreement, the U.K. is part of the EU and has put in its effort as part of the EU, so anything that would change that would require then a recalibration,” she said.
Even if the U.K. wants to continue shoring up global climate change efforts, it will have a harder time doing so as a stand-alone country that only produces 2 percent of worldwide emissions, said Barry Gardiner, the Labour Party’s shadow climate and energy minister.
Asked about the interplay between London and Brussels climate policies at a U.K. parliamentary hearing in January, Cameron agreed that climate is an issue on which the two sides work well together, stressing that his government “played a key role” in getting the EU to high ambition. The U.K. takes a “strong view” on sustainable development and climate change, he said. “So we’re able to lead by example in these forums, including in the European Union.”
Security in numbers
Energy security was at the core of the Brexit energy and climate debate, with the Remain camp arguing that leaving the EU would weaken the U.K.’s bargaining power at a time when its domestic oil and gas is waning.
The U.K.’s Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd put the argument in simpler terms: strength in numbers.
“I’m old enough to remember the power cuts of the 1970s, when Britain was the sick man of Europe,” she said in a speech in March on the benefits of staying in the EU. Rudd pointed to the threat of “countries such as Putin’s Russia,” which uses its ability to cut off deliveries or hike prices as a foreign policy tool. “As a bloc of 500 million people, we have the power to force Putin’s hand.”
But the European Commission’s latest package of energy proposals — focused on securing and diversifying the bloc’s gas supplies — do the very opposite, countered Andrea Leadsom, Rudd’s deputy as minister of state for energy and climate change.
The Commission’s desire to get a look at intergovernmental energy agreements between EU and non-EU countries before they’re signed would leave the U.K. “possibly reliant on a group of unelected eurocrats,” she said in a speech in May.
Of even bigger concern is the proposal to require countries to help out their regional neighbors if they have a gas supply crisis, she added. “If we remain to become part of the energy union, and another member state faces problems with their gas security — perhaps because of a political dispute with a supplier — we will be required to deprive our own small businesses of energy here at home.”
Energy bills go up… or down?
Both sides of the Brexit debate argued their position would ensure lower household power and gas bills.
An independent report commissioned by the British power and gas grid operator National Grid fell in the Remain camp’s favor. Leaving the EU could cost the U.K. up to £500 million per year in the 2020s, as a result of uncertainty over energy and climate investments, it found.
Staying in the EU would have kept down the energy sector’s cost of finance, but on the other hand leaving will free Britain of bloc-wide targets that constrain the choice of energy technologies, the report said.
British energy prices depend on EU policies, Iain Conn, CEO of the British energy company Centrica, told Politico in May. The country imports about 6 percent of its electricity from the Continent, and 50 percent of its gas from inside and outside the EU.
“If the U.K. is not around the table in the EU, influencing how efficient the European energy market can be, how much competition there is in the European energy market, then the probability is that our customers in the U.K. will see higher energy costs,” he said.
Leavers disputed these claims, arguing that without the cost of being an EU member, the government will have more money to help the U.K.’s poorest.
“If you vote to leave, the hundreds of millions of pounds that we give every week to the European Union come back to Britain,” Justice Secretary Michael Gove told the Independent in May. “One of the ways in which we can help those most in need is by cutting VAT on domestic fuel. Because fuel bills are 10 percent of the average weekly outgoings of working families.”
Central and Eastern Europe loses a friend
As an EU member, the U.K. formed a partnership with Central and Eastern Europeans in debates over how much say the Commission, and other members, should get in a country’s climate and energy policies.
Brexit will be a loss for the eastern nations, not just because the U.K.’s presence diversified the group, but because it brought voting numbers in the Council of the EU — where Britain, Germany, France and Italy have the greatest weight thanks to their large populations.
The U.K. and the CEE want a flexible system for ensuring countries do their part to meet the bloc’s emissions, renewables and efficiency targets for 2030, all while keeping the Commission’s monitoring to a minimum. That puts them at odds with countries such as Germany, Denmark and Sweden, which want to make sure laggards are held accountable.
Without London’s banking, Central Europeans will have a tougher time resisting efforts to give Brussels more say in national energy policies.
Investors in the lurch
Investors like long-term predictability, so the U.K.’s exit will likely cause upheaval for businesses planning to build renewable energy plants or drill for shale gas in the U.K., at least for a couple of years.
The chiefs of oil and gas majors BP, Shell and Centrica were among the 200 business leaders who signed a letter in February warning that a vote to leave “put the economy at risk.”
Ambiguity about the new U.K.-EU relationship will raise uncertainty about changes in energy and climate policies, leaving investors in limbo. “And investor uncertainty often comes with a risk premium,” said Antony Froggatt, a senior research fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House.
Leaving the single market could also open the U.K. to new import taxes, adding cost to equipment such as foundations for offshore wind farms or parts for the French-led Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project in Somerset. But it would also eliminate the EU’s trade duties on Chinese solar equipment imports, exposing domestic companies to much cheaper panels and modules, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, an analysis firm.
“You could imagine the U.K. would work rapidly on free trade agreements with the European Union, but that would take some time,” said Dario Traum, a policy adviser at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “And over that period of uncertainty, you would probably see big investors holding back until they know for sure what environment they would be operating in.”
The Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, on Wednesday, June 15 2016, launched a novelty by floating what they call Pioneer Garden.
Tree planting with the Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba
The Garden is meant to honour and immortalise staff and students who started the institution five years ago.
The Garden is located in the east of the university, akin to the Biblical Garden of Eden that shares the same location. It measures 174metres by 62 metres.
Some pioneer management staff and students took turns to plant trees in the Garden during the flag-off ceremony performed by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba who initiated the programme.
The Vice Chancellor planted the first tree in the park on behalf of the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Professor Oye Ibidapo-Obe, before planting his own. Others who planted trees in the park were the pioneer Registrar, Mr. G. O. Chukwu; the Bursar, Alhaji Rafiu Aliu; the Librarian, Dr. O. O. Adedeji and the Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. C. E. Mbah who planted on behalf of the deans.
Professor GMT Emezue planted on behalf of the Deputy Vice Chancellor while Dr. Moses Alo planted on behalf of the heads of departments. Dr. Oguga Egwu, Comrade Emma Chigbata and Comrade Isdore Nwachukwu planted on behalf of ASUU, SSNAU and NAAT respectively. A cross section of pioneer students also planted on behalf of the final year set.
Professor Nwajiuba said the essence was to give honour to whom it was due, contending that pioneering was a privilege that was rare to come by. He said the Garden would be adorned with seats so that students and even the pioneer students could, in future, take their families to relax there.
He thanked the staff and students who donated plants for the occasion and promised that their names would be immortalised in a plaque to be erected in the Garden while those that planted trees would have their names etched on the trees they planted.
The Vice Chancellor stated that recognising the donors was in appreciation of their sacrifice in a society where “we are dominated by what we take rather than what we give”.
Less than 2% of today’s global electricity is generated by solar photovoltaics (PV), but this is set to change. According to an IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency) report released on Wednesday at InterSolar Europe, this figure could grow to 13% by 2030.
“Recent analysis from IRENA finds that cost reductions for solar will continue into the future, with further declines of up to 59% possible in the next ten years. This comprehensive overview of the solar industry finds that these cost reductions, in combination with other enabling factors, can create a dramatic expansion of solar power globally. The renewable energy transition is well underway, with solar playing a central role,” said IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin.
Focusing on technology, economics, applications, infrastructure, policy and impacts, the report gives an overview of the global solar PV industry and its prospects for the future. It includes data and statistics on:
Capacity: Solar PV is the most widely owned electricity source in the world in terms of number of installations, and its uptake is accelerating. It accounted for 20 per cent of all new power generation capacity in 2015. In the last five years, global installed capacity has grown from 40 GW to 227 GW. By comparison, the entire generation capacity of Africa is 175 GW.
Costs: Solar PV regularly costs just 5 to 10 US cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in Europe, China, India, South Africa and the United States. In 2015, record low prices were set in the United Arab Emirates (5.84 cents/kWh), Peru (4.8 cents/kWh) and Mexico (4.8 cents/kWh). In May 2016, a solar PV auction in Dubai attracted a bid of 3 cents/kWh. These record lows indicate a continued trend and potential for further cost reduction.
Investment: Solar PV now represents more than half of all investment in the renewable energy sector. In 2015, global investment reached USD 67 billion for rooftop solar PV, USD 92 billion for utility-scale systems, and USD 267 million for off-grid applications.
Jobs: The solar PV value chain today employs 2.8 million people in manufacturing, installation and maintenance, the largest number of any renewable energy.
Environment: Solar PV generation has already reduced carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to 300 million tonnes per year. This can increase to up to three gigatonnes of CO2 per year in 2030.
Reaching a 13% share of global electricity by 2030 will require average annual capacity additions to more than double for the next 14 years. The report highlights five recommendations that can help achieve this increase including: updated policies based on the latest innovations; government support of continued research and development activities; creation of a global standards framework; market structure changes; and the adoption of enabling technologies like smart grids and storage.
Letting in the Light is the third solar-focused publication released by IRENA this summer. Last week, IRENA released The Power to Change, which predicts that average costs for electricity generated by solar and wind technologies could decrease by between 26 and 59 per cent by 2025. Earlier this week, IRENA released End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic, which found that the technical potential of materials recovered from retired solar PV panels could exceed $15 billion by 2050, presenting a compelling business opportunity.
Global renewable energy developer Mainstream Renewable Power has signed $117.5 million equity investment from investors including IFC, the IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC) and the IFC Catalyst Fund, two funds managed by IFC Asset Management Company, Ascension Investment Management and Sanlam to accelerate the build-out of megawatts of wind and solar plants across Africa.
Mainstream Renewable Power CEO, Eddie O’Connor
The deal, which is subject to shareholder approval, provides equity funding for the Lekela Power platform, a joint venture with the global pan-emerging market private equity firm Actis. The funding package will help Lekela meet its goal of constructing over 1,300MW of badly needed new power capacity in Africa by 2018, while addressing the challenge of climate change.
Speaking at the signing of the transaction at The African Energy Forum in London, Mainstream Renewable Power CEO Eddie O’Connor said, “Developing Africa’s power infrastructure, giving millions of people access to power and enabling the continent’s economic growth is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Renewable energy is the quickest and most cost effective solution to achieve this and Mainstream is dedicated to being the leading vehicle in delivering this on the ground.”
“Renewable energy has enormous potential as a clean, reliable, and affordable power source for Africa and we are delighted to help connect Mainstream with solar and wind investment opportunities across the continent through this partnership,” said Bertrand de la Borde, Head of Africa infrastructure at IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.
“The IFC ALAC Fund looks forward to working with Mainstream Renewable Power to support the growth of Africa’s power infrastructure on the continent, an important pre-requisite of economic and social development,” said Eileen Fargis, Co-Head, IFC African, Latin American and Caribbean Fund (ALAC).
“The IFC Catalyst Fund is very pleased to support this transaction. We look forward to supporting the growth of the Lekela Power platform and its expansion goals in the region,” said Reyaz Ahmad, Head, IFC Catalyst Fund.
The deal will allow Lekela to continue to build its pipeline of wind and solar projects in Africa. The platform plans to build four more wind farms in South Africa, two wind farms and a solar plant in Egypt, as well as wind farms in Senegal and Ghana. Also, in addition to the jobs created through the construction spend, Lekela invests resources in social endeavours that enhance the quality of life of the communities close to its projects.
Mainstream and Lekela are helping to fulfil the objectives of a series of key international initiatives, including the Obama Administration’s Power Africa, which aims to add 30,000MW of cleaner power generation through government and private partnerships, and the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All, which seeks to achieve universal access to power by 2030. Energy poverty has been recognised as one of the key challenges for Africa, with an estimated two thirds of people in Sub-Saharan Africa having no regular access to electricity.
First Avenue Partners acted as global placement agent for the transaction. Simmons & Simmons acted as legal counsel to Mainstream and Norton Rose Fulbright for the investor group.
Organisers of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2016 say the forum will advance policies and secure the investments that will ensure a better life for millions of Africa’s farmers and families – 70% of the population
Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, will host AGRF 2016
Today, across Africa, big things are happening on the millions of small family farms that are the continent’s main source of food, employment, and income. Farmers are gaining more options in the seeds they plant, in the fertilizers they use, and in the markets available to purchase their produce.
So far, it’s just a glimpse of success. This future can be our reality if all of us – farmers, businesses, governments, donors and civil society organisations – commit to act now and seize the moment; the time is ripe for an African agricultural renaissance.
To make these commitments, about 1500 leaders including African Heads of State and Government, Ministers, policy makers, farmers, private agribusiness firms, financial institutions, NGOs, civil society, scientists, and other stakeholders will gather in Nairobi, 5 – 9 September 2016, for the landmark African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) 2016.
Hosted by Uhuru Kenyatta, the President of Kenya, AGRF 2016 will convene and connect critical stakeholders in the African agriculture landscape to make concrete commitments to advance the policies and secure the investments that will ensure a better life for millions of Africa’s farmers and families – and realise the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Speaking at a press briefing in Nairobi to announce this year’s Forum, Willy Bett, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries expressed his country’s pride in hosting this auspicious Forum. He emphasised the role of agriculture in driving the economic growth of Africa and in transforming the continent from a perpetual net importer of agricultural products to global player in the agricultural arena with a significant command of the global market.
“In Kenya, agriculture directly contributes about 30 per cent of the GDP and another 25 per cent indirectly and is a source of 75 per cent of industrial raw materials. It further accounts for 65 per cent of Kenya’s total exports, and provides 18 per cent and 60 per cent of the formal and total employment respectively,” said Bett.
In a region challenged by climate change, rapidly growing urban populations, and an urgent need for jobs, agriculture offers solutions, providing a clear path to food security and employment opportunities for all Africans.
Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), noted that the upcoming Nairobi event marks a milestone moment over AGRA’s 10-year history in which tangible transformation has been achieved at national levels and within the private and public sectors.
“We have seen through our collective efforts across the agriculture sector that there are innovations, institutions, programs, and policies that work. This gathering is our opportunity to come together to advance the policies and secure the investments that will enable farming families to lift themselves out of poverty by embracing farming as a business,” said Dr. Kalibata. “It is up to all of us to come ready to build on this progress – quickly, efficiently, and at the speed and scale required to secure Africa’s rise through an agricultural transformation.”
Noting that the agricultural sector has a huge potential for private sector involvement, William Asiko, Executive Director at Grow Africa, observed, “Attracting greater private-sector investment to the agricultural sector – and ensuring that investment delivers benefits for farmers and small-to-medium-sized agribusinesses – requires focused collaboration from a range of stakeholders. Grow Africa’s remit is to forge and strengthen that collaboration. AGRF, and the Grow Africa Investment Forum, which provides input to AGRF, are ideal platforms for bringing these stakeholders together for discussions focused on action-oriented outcomes.”
This year’s forum, themed: “Seize the Moment: Africa Rising through Agricultural Transformation”, is expected to be the largest AGRF to date. The one-week event has been designed to showcase examples of transformation in agriculture in action and to promote efforts to drive and achieve scale and to foster accelerated impact.
Speaking at the press briefing, C. D. Glin, Associate Director for Rockefeller Foundation Africa Regional Office, said: “We are delighted to be part of this year’s AGRF and for the opportunity to share lessons we have learned especially in our work to reduce post-harvest loss, which account for about 40 per cent of loss in agricultural produce in Africa.”
Conceptualised with a “less is more” format, the Forum will promote optimal B2B engagement, big idea plenaries, interactive workshops and empirical knowledge sharing. In addition, there will be the inaugural launch of “The Africa Food Prize”- recognising an outstanding individual or institution that is leading the effort to change the reality of farming in Africa – from a struggle to survive to a business that thrives.
International state representatives, high level private sector and key thought leaders will also address the forum on panel discussions covering key issues on agriculture infrastructure, technology and mechanisation; capacity development, youth and women in agriculture; finance, markets, trade and domestic private sector; and inputs.
The AGRF is a platform for global and African leaders to develop actionable plans that will move African agriculture forward. Established in 2010, the Forum has emerged as Africa’s leading “platform of agriculture platforms” that brings together a range of critical stakeholders in the African agriculture landscape including African heads of state, ministers, farmers, private agribusiness firms, financial institutions, NGOs, civil society, scientists, as well as international “development and technical partners” of Africa to discuss and develop concrete plans for achieving the green revolution in Africa.
