Donald Trump, president elect of the United States of America will likely cancel Obama’s ineffectual Power Africa initiative – a $9.7billion plan to ramp up electricity to 30,000mw by 2030 which has delivered less than 5 per cent of new power generation in three years.
The newly elected president built his campaign on a protectionist, America first rhetoric which seeks to grow American’s economy rather than dissipate energy abroad, especially on projects with little value for Americans.
Power Africa has not only attracted inadequate investments in power generation for the 60million Africans it promised improved power, it has not successfully completed projects that were underway before it came on board which it claims to support.
In Nigeria, Power Africa through its investment vehicle Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) invested $50 million into Azura Edo IPP. The project is supposed to add 450 MW to Nigeria’s grid by late 2018, the construction is still underway at a snail pace.
The initiative assisted the Federal Government to finalize power purchase agreements for 14 utility-scale solar IPPs totalling over 1125 MW of power of which electricity generation companies are now accusing NBET of unwillingness to honour terms.
All over Africa, it has only added a paltry 374MW from six sizable power projects according to data from the US Agency for International Development.
Donald Trump has not hidden his intention to cut wasteful spending and run a compact, tight ship. He stated this at his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Gettysburg,
“We are going to ask every department head and government to provide a list of wasteful spending projects that we can eliminate in my first 100 days. The politicians have talked about this for years, but I’m going to do it,” he said.
Analysts are divided over the future of the programme under the administration of a President Trump who is cast by Western media as anti-immigrant with little regard for Africa.
“Frankly I don’t see it continuing. The impact of Power Africa really hasn’t been felt in Nigeria. The US would likely discontinue a lot of such support programs under Mr. Trump,” said Wesley Omonfoman.
Chuks Nwani, energy analyst and Vice President of PowerHouse International Limited, energy advisory said believes the initiative actually benefits Americans more than Africans helping to push their power products into African markets hence Trump may tweak it to derive maximum benefits for Americans.
“This is because; the funds are usually accessed by America companies as payment for services to provide technical support to Nigeria Power Sector. After providing this technical support naturally, they will recommend American company or American products to be used for the execution of the main project. This of course create jobs for the America people,” he said.
United States Agency for International Development, Power Africa contact for Nigeria Roseann Casey was contacted for comments but did not respond as at the time the report was filed.
Power Africa works with public and private sector partners to remove barriers that impede sustainable energy development in sub-Saharan Africa and to unlock the substantial wind, solar, hydropower, natural gas, biomass, and geothermal resources on the continent.
