Powering Africa by Americana

‘’I believe the purpose of development should be to build capacity and to help other countries actually stand on their own feet. …..Instead of perpetual aid, development has to fuel investment and economic growth so that assistance is no longer necessary’’.  His claim to ‘’create capacity’’ for Africa’s access to electricity has been criticised for […]

‘’I believe the purpose of development should be to build capacity and to help other countries actually stand on their own feet. …..Instead of perpetual aid, development has to fuel investment and economic growth so that assistance is no longer necessary’’.  His claim to ‘’create capacity’’ for Africa’s access to electricity has been criticised for being stingy and very limited in coverage. It commits only $20 billion annually for operations in `pioneering countries of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Liberia.
The project is name ‘’Power Africa’’ and is under three nannies, namely: African governments, American private companies, and agencies of the United States’ government.  African governments are responsible for making laws and regulations that pave ways for private investors to profitably invest in their economies. Some private sector companies will draw up plans and policies for them. The State Department’s diplomats lobby and bully top policy makers into accepting conditionalities for investors to reap rich harvests. The Treasury Department plants officials in African ministries of finance to pilot financial ‘’transparency’’ and do surgical work on how to cut off state and public ownership of economic assets.
Although critics are angry that the programme is at subsistence level – compared to America’s ‘’Marshall Plan’’ to rescue for battered Europe after the 1939-1945 War – it does promise to invest between 15 to 20 million dollars annually between 2014 and 2030 in the ‘’focus countries’’.  As many as eleven American government agencies constitute Obama’s power troops; namely: Department of State; United State Agency for International Development (USAID); Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA); Department of Energy; Export Import Bank; United States African Development Foundation; Department of Commerce; Department of the Treasury; Department of Commerce; Millennium Challenge Corporation; Trade and Development Agency United States Army corps of Engineers and OPIC. There is urgency in a mission for exploiting Africa.
 These are a formidable body of talent charging and probing into a continent whose bureaucrats and politicians often lack comparative training, patriotic vision and capacity to effectively monitor; enhance benefits and manage damage control. Their mission includes enabling Africa to generate power from abundant wind, solar and thermal resources. Such power is said to be 60 times cleaner than generators and charcoal. Their social merits include enabling school children to do their homework under conditions which do not damage their eyes with smoke out of kerosene or palm-oil lamps. Women who cook with tomatoes, onions, okra or yam can save their arms from pounding mortars. Massive decrease in losses of food from lack of refrigeration will increase the amount of food that reaches consumers. Families can join national information and conversation through receiving television and radio broadcasts; and joint global Internet communication.
‘’Power Africa’’ has eleven investors operating in Nigeria, namely: Heirs Holding; UBA Capital; General Electric; Africa Finance Corporation; African Development Bank; Standard Chartered Bank; Symbion; Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers; Nigeria Solar Capital Partners; America Capital Energy & Infrastructure and the World Bank. Their practical activities have already included enabling EcoBank to loan out 500,000 dollars by providing ‘’political risk insurance for project loans’’. General Electric and US African Development Foundation have awarded three grants worth 100,000 dollars each to ‘’entrepreneurs for innovative off-grid energy projects in Nigeria’’.
The most visible catch by ‘’Power Africa’’ has been the privation of Power Holding Company of Nigeria. It found funds to enable 15 companies buy 10 electricity distribution units and 5 electricity generation units from PHCN.  Aldwych International has targeted Nigeria’s Pension Fund.  Coming in with 700 million dollars in seeks to ‘’catalyze’’ the Pension Fund to commit 75 per cent of its 70 million dollars into building infrastructure in Nigeria and 25 per cent  in other West African countries.  Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers is interested in completing the Azura Gas Power project in Edo State to generate 450 megawatts.
‘’Power Africa’’ is not a mere gesture by an American President with African roots seeking to reverse racist European depiction of Africa as an ‘’area of darkness’’ in world civilization by exploiting the obvious reality of massive sunlight bathing the continent all year long.  It comes in the shadow of China’s footsteps running amuck all over Africa to grab raw materials and construct roads and railways. It however has weaknesses. In Nigeria, there no priority in building structures to exploit solar and wind power in the vast space from Kebbi State to Adamawa State. Instead priority is in gobbling up PHCN.  Africa’s vast Sahara desert solar and wind potential and Namibia’s Kalahari Desert invite rooting solar-panel manufacturing capacity by Africa. Africa wears ocean waters whose trillions of waves invite priority for ‘’creating capacity’’.