In Africa today, about millions of people have no access to electricity. This impact on how hospitals keep
medicines refrigerated, how businesses operate and school children study time.
Some of the missionaries in Africa live
and work in areas with no
electricity and if they have some access to electricity it is usually for few
hours only.
As Washington DC prepare to host the
first ever U.S.-Africa Leaders summit, we take a look at the new U.S program
Power Africa Initiative which was announced by President Obama in 2013.
Power Africa is a new five-year U.S
Presidential initiative that aims at supporting economic growth and development
by increasing access to reliable, affordable and sustainable power in Africa.
Initiative aims to add thousands of
megawatts of electricity generation capacity to some selected Sub Saharan
African households and companies in Nigeria,
Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania by 2018. The initiative will focus on clean, renewable
energy technology solutions, including geothermal, hydro, wind and solar.
Through the development agency
USAID, the U.S Government will commit $7 billion and some 40 private companies
have committed $14 billion to finance the initiative over the next five years.
To complement and support the Power
Initiative announcement, the United States Congress has introduced two bills,
namely HR2548 (Electrify Africa Act)
and S 2014 (Energize Africa Act).
Both bills enjoy bipartisan support. Civil society and faith groups in United
States and Africa see this Power initiative if done right as a positive
opportunity to make a difference lives of millions of people who lack
electricity in Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment