Africa’s long-standing energy deficit is increasingly being driven by a lack of capital rather than resource scarcity, the industry leaders and policymakers said yesterday at the 10th anniversary edition of the Sub-Saharan African International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC 2026).

Speaking at the conference in Lagos, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, said Africa’s inability to fund its own oil and gas projects remains the biggest obstacle to energy security, noting that external financing has often been weaponised against the continent.

The remarks came as Nigeria formally handed over the fully furnished headquarters of the Africa Energy Bank to its promoters, with the Federal Government committing to bridge any remaining capital gap required for the bank’s takeoff.

According to Lokpobiri, Nigeria has already contributed about 70 per cent of the total subscriptions made by African countries, pledging to raise the balance if other members delay.

Delivering the keynote address, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Felix Omatsola Ogbe, said Africa’s local content ambitions would fail without deeper collaboration across borders, regulators, and industry players.

Ogbe noted that while individual countries have made progress, Africa’s local content journey remains fragmented, limiting the scale and competitiveness of indigenous companies.

He pointed to Nigeria’s evolving local content framework as an example of a more disciplined approach, explaining that the country has moved beyond participation targets to capacity building and stricter governance.

At the continental level, Ogbe said the Brazzaville Accord provides a platform for aligning local content policies, minimising regulatory bottlenecks, and making African projects more competitive in the global capital market.

The emphasis on capital and collaboration also dominated the opening address by the Chairman of the Petroleum Technology Association of Nigeria (PETAN), Wole Ogunsanya, who said Africa must define its energy future on its own terms, rather than through external transition timelines that ignore the continent’s development realities.
Beyond policy statements, SAIPEC 2026 also highlighted growing concern that Africa risks losing investment to other regions if financing constraints persist.