Governments of African countries, especially those in the sub-Saharan part f the continent, are faced with the challenge of sourcing princely $25 billion or N12.5 trillion for investments in connecting some 600 million people to electric power supply infrastructure.

The International Energy Agency stated on Monday that 600 million people or 43% of the continent’s mostly sub-Saharan Africa population lack access to electricity. It added that the number of Africans with access to electricity fell during the Covid pandemic period.

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The agency which provides global energy advisory services to clients stated that if $25 billion were deployed in annual investments to boost energy access to citizens, the continent might resolve energy poverty which worsened in 2020 by 2030.

The IEA said the number of people living without electricity increased by four percent, or 25 million people, between 2019 and 2021, after a decade of progress.

Before Covid-19, there had been “lots of good developments in countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda,” IEA chief Fatih Birol told AFP ahead of the release of the Paris-based agency’s African Energy Outlook 2022.

“But because of Covid and the economic difficulties, we see that this positive trend is reversing now,” Birol said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has added to the economic strains on Africa from the Covid pandemic, as the conflict has sent the prices of energy, food and other commodities soaring, according to the IEA.

“When I look at 2022, with the high energy prices and the economic burden on the African countries, I don’t see many reasons to be hopeful,” Birol said.

But Africa could get universal access to electricity by the end of the decade with $25 billion in annual investment, according to the IEA.

Countries need to give international financial institutions, especially development banks, a “strong mandate” to make Africa and clean energy on the continent “an absolute priority”, Birol said.

“It’s not the case now,” he added.

Africa is facing more severe effects from climate change than most other parts of the world, despite emitting less energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) than any other region, the IEA said.

“We have to see a huge amount of investment coming in Africa in all parts of the energy system, but the most important one will be clean energy options. We would need to double the energy investments to reach our energy and climate goals,” Birol said.