Africa must put energy poverty before the climate crisis, according to Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons of Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, said Africa must solve its “energy poverty” problems before facing the challenges of the climate crisis.

“Africa first needs to tackle energy poverty before we can talk about the energy transition,” Lima said in a statement published today on social networks regarding his speech at the “MSGBC Oil, Gas & Power 2021” conference, which concluded on Friday. Dakar discussed energy on the continent.

“There is energy poverty. It is a reality in many parts of Africa. “You cannot talk about the energy transition without first providing electricity to its people,” said the minister, whose country is one of the largest oil producers on the continent, although it has large gas reserves.

More than 500 million people lack access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, according to studies by international organizations such as the World Bank.

Thus, Lima appealed to Senegal, Mozambique and Uganda, “the new oil and gas producers in Africa, to speak out and defend their right to develop their resources, because they have the most to lose.”

We want to make it clear that we do not deny climate change. Climate change is real, but this story has two sides, the face of the producer and the consumer,” said the head of mines and hydrocarbons, the son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, who has led the central African country with a heavy hand since 1979.

“The amount of energy used to play video games in the United States is equivalent to that used by the central government in the whole of Nigeria. You can’t just blame the producers. We have to address our consumption and consumption habits,” Lima added.

Under the theme “New Wave of Investment”, last Thursday and Friday in Dakar, MSGBC Oil, Gas and Energy 2021 analyzed ways to improve regional partnerships and stimulate investment and development opportunities in the oil, gas and energy sectors. Inside the MSGBC Basin.

MSGBC brings together the countries of the common sedimentary basin in Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea Conakry, which remains untapped despite the potential it has revealed in recent years.