Opening Address delivered by Mrs. Olu Arowolo Verheijen, Special Adviser on Energy to the President of Nigeria, at the Energy Leadership Roundtable, during the 2024 African Energy Week (AEW), Cape Town, South Africa, 5th November 2024.
It gives me great pleasure to deliver the opening address at this event. I thank the organizers and sponsors for the kind invitation to be with you today, and to share my thoughts on the theme of “The Future of Energy: Shaping the Workforce of Tomorrow.”
As Africans, we are at a point in our developmental process where energy access is critical in shaping the continent’s future.
Our resources (including renewables) are abundant, yet over 75% of the population lack sufficient energy access. As a continent seeking to change this narrative, we must ensure that energy ceases to be the limiting factor in Africa but rather becomes a tool for driving industrialization and development.
One of the ways we can address this is through a productive energy workforce.
There is no doubt that the future we are moving into will be very different from where we are coming and what we are used to. It will take incredible amounts of human energy and a diversity of talent and expertise to enable us adapt to these rapidly evolving and often unpredictable scenarios and circumstances. In summary: we are the ones who will determine the outcome of the delicate balance between energy security, affordability and sustainability for this continent.
I am here today to make the argument that one of the most important ways in which we can shape tomorrow’s African energy workforce is to look beyond the traditional places and welcome a new crop of talent, especially women, and young people, who possess a global perspective and reach and understand the context of the 21st century, and are equipped with the fresh perspectives and bold energy to design and implement radical new solutions to lingering problems.