Onyango observes that the issue of divesting from fossil fuel should be given a global approach, where developed countries should not be seen as wanting to interfere with those that are developing.
“Developing countries have a lot of problems to solve, including poverty, which they can address using revenue from fossil fuel,” he contends.
He questions why the calls for divesting from fossil fuel are coming now yet the developed economies have been major beneficiaries of exploitation of the same for centuries.
“With the recent discovery of large deposits of fossil fuels in Africa, this is the time African governments need to rise to the occasion and develop their capacities, communities, infrastructure and other sectors using revenue generated from oil,” he said.
However, according to Prof Chinedum Nwajiuba, Dean of Postgraduate Studies at Imo State University Owerri, Nigeria, the world is headed towards divesting from fossil fuel, whether Africa likes it or not.
Prof Nwajiuba, who is also the executive director of the Nigeria Environmental Study Action Team, says many countries that dominate the world’s economy have been actively working on divesting from fossil fuel.
“The United States and Europe, for instance, are headed in that direction,” he says. “As the technology for non-fossils is improved, this trend will become the dominant source of energy in the world.
Prof Nwajiuba adds that Africa should also be headed towards embracing renewable energy because it is endowed with abundant solar energy.
“We should be in the forefront of dependency on solar energy, because Africa is well endowed in that respect. Sadly, that is not the case,” he laments.
He however adds that he does not expect a decision not to exploit fossil fuels any time soon, but sees technology and economic factors soon reducing the importance of fossils in the global energy scene.
“My country, Nigeria, is a classic case of a nation that will be losing foreign exchange as crude oil exports decline and as her major customers seek other sources for their energy needs. But that should not be a surprise to Nigeria and countries in similar circumstances,” he says.
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