Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Mr. Tony Elumelu, has been named
‘Person of the Year’ at the Africa Investor CEO Institutional Investment
Summit hosted alongside the UN General Assembly in New York.
Receiving the award, he dedicated to involved in the task of
powering the continent out of
poverty, Elumelu acknowledged the staff and management of Transcorp
Power, the biggest producer of thermal energy in Nigeria, providing about 18%
of national output.
“In accepting this award, I want to dedicate it to Transcorp
Power staff who remain committed to realizing our dream of improving access to
electricity in Nigeria and making our vision of a well-lit, fully powered
Nigeria come true.” Transcorp Power has supported U.S. President Obama’s Power
Africa initiative with a $2.5 billion commitment.
He thanked the broader coalition of investors in the African
power sector, while urging other institutional investors to consider long-term
opportunities on the continent.
“I also dedicate this to all stakeholders working hard to
improve access to power in Africa. I call on others to please join us in this
journey to powering Africa out of poverty,” he stressed.
As the economies of African regional powerhouses like Democratic
Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria and Angola struggle, due to
excessive exposure to commodity prices caused by limited diversification,
Elumelu proffered a sustainable solution to reduce Africa’s historical external
vulnerability.
“Africa has been faced with this same challenge, in my view,
for far too long. I choose to look at the recent episodes of economic
contraction across the continent as opportunities to diversify our economies
and invest in building critical infrastructure, especially in power, to reduce
our susceptibility to commodity shocks and break out of the perpetual boom-bust
cycles.”
He emphasized that to ensure a different type of growth
trajectory for Africa – one that does not rely exclusively on the export of
primary commodities – there must be reliable, accessible, affordable
power to support industrialization. “Industrialization must occur on a massive
scale for our countries to be powered out of chronic dependency on commodities.
We must power Africa’s next phase of development, by targeting and prioritizing
growth of our manufacturing, industries and services. And power is the fulcrum
that will make this happen,” he said.
Elumelu revealed that while there is an abundance of private
capital available to be deployed to develop the African power sector,
government must play its part in attracting these investments. He explained,
“While there is huge private capital – local and global – seeking investment
destinations, as we know, global private capital goes to where it is most
welcome. Therefore, the challenge before African governments should be how to
ensure they create the environment that will attract and retain these
investments in our continent.” To the foreign investors gathered at the forum,
he advised, “Though there are challenges in investing in Africa, these
challenges can be overcome by investing in Africa through partnerships with
qualified local partners who possess the right knowledge, requisite capital and
technical knowhow.”
Speaking further, Elumelu urged private and public sector
stakeholders to work together in what he describes as “Shared Purpose”. “It is
critical for the public and private sectors to work together in “SHARED
PURPOSE”, which is a key tenet of Africapitalism – the economic philosophy I
espouse which calls for the private sector to play a key role in Africa’s
social and economic development by investing in strategic sectors for both
economic profit and social prosperity.”
Elumelu, who is also co-chair of the African Energy Leaders
Group (AELG), a community of African energy leaders including Presidents and
leading corporates, concluded his remarks by examining the role of power in
creating opportunities for Africa’s jobless youth. “In the 21st century, the
level of poverty we have in Africa and the dire youth unemployment, to a large
extent, can be solved by improving access to power, and by extension other
infrastructure deficiencies and deficits. Even though we are making progress,
there is still a lot to be done. We need faster progress.”
Source: Independent
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