Nigerian pipeline billionaire Emeka Okwuosa says Africa can’t run on renewables alone

Nigerian billionaire Emeka Okwuosa, the founder and chairman of pipeline builder Oilserv Group, warned that Africa's push toward cleaner energy cannot come at the expense of reliable power, arguing that Nigeria cannot rely on renewables alone to power its factories and its digital economy.

"Energy transition must not be mistaken for energy abandonment," Okwuosa said on Thursday in Port Harcourt, delivering a paper at the 22nd International Conference and Exhibition on Power and Telecommunication, organized by the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Reliable energy is critical to digital inclusion and industrialization, he said, and replacing fossil fuels with renewables alone is not a practical solution. He called for more investment in dependable supply, including from Nigeria's large natural gas reserves, alongside mini-grids and distributed power to reach communities the national grid does not serve.

The cost of keeping the lights on

Okwuosa pointed to the size of the funding gap. Achieving universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2035 would require nearly $150 billion in investment, about six times what the region now spends each year, he said, citing the International Energy Agency.

He listed the obstacles that stand in the way: unreliable power, grid constraints, a lack of energy storage, limited finance, cybersecurity risks, regulatory bottlenecks and shortages of skilled workers. Nigeria's transition, he said, has to deal with access, affordability, reliability, jobs and energy security, not only with cutting emissions.

He pointed to Nigeria's Energy Transition Plan, which targets net-zero emissions by 2060 across power, cooking, oil and gas, transport and industry, as the framework for that work.

Okwuosa said oil and gas companies can use digital tools to run their operations more efficiently and safely, cut gas flaring and get more out of their assets. He described the energy business as expanding from "molecules" into "electrons and data," with opportunities in renewables, batteries, grids, smart meters, electric vehicle charging, maintenance driven by artificial intelligence and green hydrogen.

The institute made Okwuosa a fellow at the conference.

The pipeline builder

Okwuosa has a direct stake in the argument. Oilserv, which he incorporated in 1992 and which began operations in 1995, has become Nigeria's best-known locally owned builder of oil and gas pipelines. It started out working almost entirely for Shell Nigeria before winning contracts from other international oil companies and Nigeria LNG Ltd.

By its own count, Oilserv has completed 19 major pipeline projects covering more than 930 kilometers, along with 28 above-ground facilities and 18 river crossings using horizontal directional drilling. Its projects include the Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben gas pipeline in the Niger Delta.

The company's biggest job is the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, a project valued at about $2.8 billion that is meant to carry gas from the south to power plants and factories in northern Nigeria. Oilserv announced mechanical completion of its section of the line in July, with gas treatment facilities and some valve stations due to be finished between the end of 2026 and early 2027.

In September, Oilserv signed an agreement with Gabon's government to develop two hydrocarbon blocks, DEF-3 and D4-5, and build the gas transport, compression and treatment infrastructure needed to supply power plants there. The deal was the company's first move into Central Africa.

Okwuosa, 65, is from Oraifite in Anambra State. He graduated in electronics and electrical engineering from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, in 1982. He spent more than a decade at oilfield services company Schlumberger, working in Europe, North Africa, West and Central Africa and Indonesia, before starting Oilserv.

His wider group includes Frazimex Engineering, Frazpower, Crown Energy Resources and Ekcel Farms. Through the Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation, he built a cardiothoracic hospital in Oraifite, named after his late mother, that offers free open-heart surgery. He holds the national honor of Commander of the Order of the Niger.