African Energy Chamber Senior Vice President Verner Ayukegba addressed domestic and international stakeholders at the National Upstream Petroleum Local Content Policy workshop in Windhoek on Thursday, calling for expanded access to local financing solutions and a balanced approach to Namibia’s local content policy.
“It’s all about financing local content. As much as the international firms can contract Namibians, Namibians will still need to finance the contracts themselves,” stated Ayukegba.
Ayukegba stressed the importance of cooperation across energy and non-energy sectors alike in actualizing effective local content policy, creating employment opportunities and retaining value in-country.
“Namibians have the right to be able to profit as much as possible from their own natural resources,” said Ayukegba. “Not everyone will become a petroleum geologist – not everyone will become an engineer. You need to look across the board at the entire economy and make it easier for Namibians to create wealth for themselves.”
Ayukegba also addressed the shifting African energy landscape and the role that energy diversification and increased foreign direct investments will play in eradicating energy poverty.
“We believe energy investment is key to ending poverty in Africa. But if you want 60% local ownership of new businesses, then you will have difficulty retaining foreign companies . We need to find the right balance, and ensure local content policy attracts investment from the entire banking chain into the energy sector,” said Ayukegba.
