By Jibril Abdul Mumuni
Accra, March 31, GNA — Africa’s comparatively late discovery of oil and gas resources continues to complicate the continent’s ability to transition swiftly toward renewable energy.
According to Dr Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, Lead Convenor, International Conference on the Political Economy of Just Energy Transitions, the continent faced a unique dilemma, while global efforts toward clean energy were accelerating, many African countries were only beginning to harness recently discovered hydrocarbon reserves that had become crucial to national revenue and development planning.
He said this at the opening session of the conference organised by the Centre for Social Policy Studies (CSPS) of the University of Ghana, in partnership with the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and Oxfam in Ghana.
The conference, brought , together scholars, policymakers, civil society actors and development practitioners to examine the broader implications of Africa’s energy choices.
Discussions focused on renewable energy prospects, mineral governance, inequality concerns, and the distributional impacts of global energy shifts on African societies.
The two‑day meeting forms part of wider efforts to promote dialogue on just, sustainable and equitable pathways for Africa’s energy future.
He observed that countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Senegal, and Mozambique had made significant oil and gas finds within the last two decades long after wealthier nations had already benefited from more than a century of fossil fuel extraction.
“Many African economies are still in the early stages of fully developing their petroleum sectors. For these countries, oil is not a historic industry but a young one, and this reality complicates the pace of transition expected of us by the global community,” he stated.
Dr Abdulai said the push for rapid decarbonisation often failed to reflect Africa’s development context, noting that a sudden or externally imposed transition could undermine domestic growth strategies, employment prospects, and fiscal stability.
“For countries that rely heavily on oil for foreign exchange earnings, such as Nigeria and even Ghana to some extent, the question is not whether to transition, because it is inevitable. The question is how to transition in a manner that is just, inclusive and development‑enhancing,” he added.
He said that African governments must therefore adopt pragmatic and carefully sequenced strategies that balanced environmental commitments with economic realities.
One such approaches, he noted, is the strategic use of petroleum revenues to finance renewable energy expansion and strengthen local technological capacity.
Dr Abdulai stressed that the political economy of the transition must be openly interrogated, particularly in relation to who bore the cost of shifting away from fossil fuels and who stood to benefit from emerging green energy markets.
“Africa contributes the least to global emissions, yet we remain the most vulnerable to climate‑related disruptions. At the same time, the continent holds vast deposits of critical minerals central to the global green economy.
These contradictions make it essential for us to shape our own transition agenda,” he said.
GNA
31 March 2026
Edited by Samuel Osei-Frempong