African businessman and philanthropist Tony Elumelu, who is the Chairman of Heirs Holdings and Founder of the Tony Elumelu
Foundation joined African economic and political leaders today
in Abidjan to call for an end to energy poverty on the continent.
African Energy Leaders Group (AELG).The AELG was launched
during the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The group brings together political and business leaders at the
highest level to drive the reforms and investment needed to
end energy poverty and to ensure sustainable fuel supplies on
the continent.
Mr. Elumelu is a founding partner and Co-chair of the AELG.
Other founding partners of AELG include Ivoirian President
Allasane Ouattara; Ghanaian President John Mahama; President,
African Development Bank Dr Donald Kaberuka; President & CEO,
Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; President ECOWAS
Commission, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo; and President UEMOA
Cheikhe Hadjibou Soumare.
Providing access for all Africans to reliable, affordable energy
services and efficient appliances by 2030 is a key goal of AELG.
The AELG objective of ensuring universal access to modern
energy is in line with those of the United Nations Sustainable
Energy for All (SE4All) initiative run by the UN Secretary
General’s Special Representative Kandeh Yumkella, one of
the champions of the AELG.
Mr. Elumelu pledged to support the work of AELG.
“I am making a pledge to provide $150,000 over the next three
years to support the operations of the AELG secretariat,” he said.
“I want to call on the governments of the member states of the
ECOWAS region, and AELG members and partners to also step
up with significant multi-year commitments to sustain the
organization”, he added.
Following Mr Elumelu’s lead, pop superstar, Akon, who was also in attendance at the event to promote his Lighting Africa Initiative,
pledged $200,000 to support the work of the AELG secretariat.
On the closing panel for the AELG meeting, where Elumelu was
joined by Akon, former Presidents Obasanjo and Kufuor,
Vice President Osinbajo, and the Prime Ministers of Cote D’Ivoire,
Mali, Benin, Togo, and Niger, he challenged the public sector
leaders to follow the lessons learnt from the democratization of
the telecoms sector to unlock growth in the power sector.
In 2013, Tony Elumelu committed to investing $2.5 billion in the
power sector in Africa through President Obama’s Power Africa
Initiative.
Transcorp Plc, Chaired by Elumelu, acquired the largest gas
powered generating plant in Nigeria, located in Ughelli, Delta State
in late 2013.
By the end of this year, the Transcorp Ughelli plant will be
generating 1,000 MW and the company is in discussions with GE
to add an additional 1,000 MW soon after.
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