Africa, a greatly populated continent, is said to be the least provided with electricity in the world having 600 million people without constant access to electricity.
The novel COVID-19 with its lockdown, impediment to supply chain and digression of financial resources by the governments caused more harm.
The pandemic, according to the Energy Progress Report 2022 published by the United Nations, has caused a dilatory progress towards universal advancement in technology, electricity itself and cooking fuels.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s share of the universal population without electricity increased from 71% in 2018 to 77% in 2020, according to the report as most regions of the world experienced a dropdown.
As one of the factors stopping countries from access increment is the expense involved, executing massive availability of electricity in sub-Saharan Africa would demand committing at least $31 billion per year by 2030. But in 2017, only $5 billion was received.
A senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development who has also served as Liberia’s minister for public works, Gyude Moore, gave his insight on where to direct investment for access expansion.
According to the World Bank, many sub-saharan African countries have about one or less engineer of 10,000 inhabitants while industrialised countries have 20 to 50 of the same number. This, on the bridging of the gap between Africa’s science and technology. In addition to this, is the huge skill gap in Africa especially in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, also known as ASET.
Furthermore, partly because of the outdated curriculum being used in universities, there is deficiency in graduates skills and competencies which is required in contemporary enterprise which is why many leave the country for greener pastures elsewhere.
