By Hamad Rashid / The Loyal Media.
In African countries, Energy and its resources has not been as well constructed as they do in European and Western countries.
Ambassador Ahmed Haggag, advisor of the Union of African Journalists, author of several books on Palestine, the Middle East, and Africa, and currently the Secretary General of the Africa Society, explained that Energy in Africa is challenged.
Haggag added that “Energy is a wide area, it does not end only in Oil and Gas, but it reaches all the products produced in all areas as well, it leaves environmental effects and climate change that Africa also fails to deal with”.
Haggag noted these sentences during the 59th training of young journalists in Africa held in Cairo, Egypt under the coordination of The Union of African Journalists in collaboration with The Supreme Council for Media Regulation of Egypt, a total of 15 African journalists participating in the training from 15 countries September 2024.
The message portrayed by Ambassador Ahmed to the young journalist “The African continent has been faced with colonialism for many years not only for political reasons but the economy and the trade market, which leads to the exchange of raw materials and products that use energy to be processed and sold back to Africa, so it is important that journalists understand the context and write analysis articles”.
Ambassador Ahmed Haggag
Speed of energy consumption and its results for Africa.
According to the Institute of Statistical Review of World Energy, quote from the Worldometers, it is estimated the daily consumption of petrol and diesel is more than 60, 000, 000 Liters, you can read the current statistics via Worldometer – real time world statistics (worldometers.info). These figures show how Energy is important in producing products and their use, including cars.
Also, more than 300,000 forests have been lost so far this year, the speed of which is contributed by industrial machines used to cut trees. The biggest victims are African countries that sell energy sources to companies and countries in Europe and the West.
However, more than 60 million cars have been produced so far this year, with the largest customers expected to be developing countries in the Global South, where they can invest in that technology so that they can use their energy to produce cars if they see there is productivity, instead, they sell the energy that goes to make cars and then they go to buy at a high cost while their people continue to be poor.
An analyst of political and economic issues in East Africa, the Great Lakes region, Europe, and South and North America Gikaro Benard from Tanzania, being interviewed explained, “Capitalism by nature is the system runs by few that makes Africa to be behind Europe, since Africa is placed as a place for Raw material and cheap labor and it is not for development but for underdevelopment to benefit Europe and North America, Japan”
“As results of unequal development within Capitalist economic system, for instance, in the case of energy In Africa some countries has been suffering from energy crisis including Niger which 80% of electricity is coming from Nigeria while the country uranium is taken to France for electricity production“, added Gikaro.
Gikaro Benard: analyst from Tanzania
Talking about the duties of the journalist Gikaro noted that, they must understand the full context and then write scientific articles of analysis with investigations, also collaborate with other journalists from their regions as well and witness some of the events that explain the source of Neo-colonialism, including visiting places that preserve the history of the liberation of the African continent, because if the journalist is not aware of the reality of the matter, it may lead to writing a publication that benefits the capitalists more, without being aware of it himself.
Concerning the energy issue caused by colonialism, speaking to journalists on the subject of international competition in Africa and the effects on the continent’s interests, the senior journalist and researcher of African affairs, Ahmed Embabi from Egypt, has said “Africa is failing to be an international competitor and continue to pay the losses of the interests of the continent, because of its history of colonization, the looting of its raw materials, and the slave trade that flourished many years ago”.
He added that “Europe and the United States believed that Europeans could go anywhere in Africa and do anything without any conditions, currently, Africa is not competitive because it is still facing the problems of hunger, lack of good education, and poverty, also, Africa should invest in the power of its resources while journalists continue to tell the truth with sufficient information” concluded Ahmed Embabi.
NB: The Loyal Media allowed Tanzania Kids Time to publish content about this article in September 2024, so this is the second time this article has been reviewed.
