Africa's Big Switch (ABS)
Africa’s Big Switch is a podcast that aims to identify current and future solutions to complex problems on the African continent. Examples of such problems include: Climate Change, Homelessness, Poverty, Political Instability, Famine, Floods etc.Our first season sheds light and sparks conversation around the future of energy in Africa.Why Energy?Modern society depends on reliable and affordable energy services to function smoothly and to develop equitably. A well-established energy system supports all sectors from medicine and education to agriculture, infrastructure, communications and high-technology. However, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there are over 770 million people in the world today without access to electricity, 77% of which are in Sub-saharan Africa. The Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the UN Agenda, aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030. Given we are only a few years to 2030, we explore the progress, challenges and opportunities for achieving this goal across
Africa's Big Switch (ABS)
ABS E21: Understanding the Effect of Fuel Subsidy Removal in Nigeria
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Bolaji Akinola-Alli
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Episode 21
We had a conversation with Noelle Okwedy, the Energy Insights Lead at Stears, a startup focused on providing data and insights to professionals interested in the African continent.
Having worked in the Nigerian power sector after studying financial economics with econometrics at the University of Kent. Noelle is passionate about improving energy access in Africa.
We cover the following themes on this episode:
- The history and initial intention of the Nigerian government for providing fuel subsidy.
- The impact of fuel subsidy removal to the government's budget and the unwanted domino effects to the cost of living of Nigerians.
- Noelle's opinion on the approach to fuel subsidy removal and the need for improved budget planning and transparency.
- Potential solutions such as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in transportation and the need for significant government infrastructure investment and policy, to attract investors.
Have a listen!
