By: The nation news paper

The senior lawyer, who is also a UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) Doha, Qatar , made these remarks while delivering a compelling keynote lecture at the 13th Annual Conference of the African Society of International Law held in Lagos, Nigeria.

The theme was Africa and the Energy Transition.

The conference had in attendance lawyers, business executives, diplomats, and leading experts from across Africa, including , Professor at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and President of the African Society of International Law,  Prof. Makane Moise Mbengue;  Independent Arbitrator and Chair of the 2024 AfSIL Annual Conference, Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN);, Partner, Cleary Gottlie,Laurie Achtouk-Spivak;  Prof. Yenkong Ngangjoh-Hodu, of the University of Manchester;  Founder, EtinPower Limited,  Prof. Yinka Omorogbe, (SAN), CEO; Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD, Dafina Atanasova; General Counsel & Company Secretary, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd,nChidi Momah;  Professor of Energy, University of Lagos, Prof. Yemi Oke, (SAN), amongst other notable speakers.

In his keynote lecture, Prof. Olawuyi, (SAN) noted that “The clean energy transition is both an urgent necessity and a profound opportunity for Africa. It is an opportunity for African countries to leverage their comparative advantages as suppliers of natural gas, as well as energy transition minerals, that are in high demand across the world and needed to power renewable energy technologies as well as hydrogen infrastructure projects.

 It is also an opportunity to homegrown energy entreprenuers to unlock mini and micro energy grids that can deliver clean and reliable energy to undeserved communities.”

While noting Africa’s potential as a strategic hub for solar, wind and hydrogen projects, Olawuyi called on governments across the continent to make the investment climate more attractive to foreign and homegrown energy entreprenuers in order to sustain the need investment flow in technlogy and energy investments.