Nigerian energy tycoon Wale Tinubu warns Africa’s energy gap threatens its 2030 development goals

Nigerian energy tycoon and Oando Group CEO Wale Tinubu says the United Nations General Assembly provides a timely forum to assess Africa’s progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals with four years remaining until 2030. The Oando Group CEO argues that energy must remain central to the discussion because reliable power underpins much of the continent’s economic and social development.

Tinubu, in a recent LinkedIn post, said he was approaching the debate from an operator’s perspective. Energy alone does not determine development, he said, but almost every measure of progress depends on dependable supply. He cited projects linked to Oando in Nigeria as examples of how gas infrastructure can produce wider economic benefits.

Gas drives more than power

At Okpai, Oando’s joint venture power plant uses gas to support nearly 1 gigawatt of generation capacity for Nigeria’s national grid. In Bayelsa, 11.2 million standard cubic feet per day of gas from the joint venture supplies a 60-megawatt independent power plant expected to anchor electricity supply across the state.

Oando also supplies 25 million standard cubic feet per day of gas to FIPL’s 150-megawatt power plant in Umoku. The facility feeds electricity into the national grid and, under an agreement with the Oando joint venture, provides power to the Umoku community at no cost, linking gas production directly to local access.

Tinubu said those figures should be viewed as development measures rather than energy statistics alone. Additional generation capacity can help hospitals maintain cold chains overnight, enable factories to operate additional shifts, keep schools functioning after dark and reduce losses for farmers moving produce to markets.

Power remains an economic pillar

Reliable electricity, Tinubu said, supports progress across health, education, food security, manufacturing and decent work. Power alone cannot deliver those outcomes, but Africa’s development ambitions will be difficult to achieve without the infrastructure and investment required to supply homes, businesses and public institutions consistently.

Tinubu argued that Africa’s development challenges cannot be addressed in isolated policy discussions. Climate negotiations, financing, health care, food security and job creation are interconnected issues for a continent whose population is approaching one-fifth of humanity and whose economies need greater productive capacity.

The financing gap remains central to that challenge. Tinubu questioned the disparity between countries expanding gas-fired generation to meet rising electricity demand, including from data centers, and African economies facing pressure to move rapidly toward alternative energy sources while still working to establish reliable and affordable power systems.

Africa wants development space

Tinubu said energy demand should not be treated as legitimate in one region and questioned in another. He argued that a credible global development agenda must recognize the tools, capital and time other economies used to build industrial capacity, expand infrastructure and raise living standards.

Climate responsibility also forms part of Tinubu’s argument. He said Africa’s historical contribution to global warming is relatively small even as the continent faces significant consequences from climate change. That imbalance, he said, should inform adaptation financing, debt discussions and the policy space available to African countries.

Tinubu said Africa should use its hydrocarbons responsibly and strategically while investing in future energy systems, agriculture, industry, and skills. He framed the challenge as one of building an energy transition that can support development rather than treating economic growth and the transition as competing objectives.

An operator’s view from New York

Ahead of discussions in New York, Tinubu said he would bring an operator’s perspective to the debate over Africa’s energy future and broader development goals. For him, the central question is how capital, energy resources and transition policies can be aligned with Africa’s need to expand opportunity and productive capacity.