Reliable Power First: Oilserv Founder Emeka Okwuosa Says Africa Cannot Run Industry on Renewables AloneReliable Power First: Oilserv Founder Emeka Okwuosa Says Africa Cannot Run Industry on Renewables Alone

The founder and chairman of Oilserv Group made the case on Thursday in Port Harcourt, at the 22nd International Conference and Exhibition on Power and Telecommunication, organised by the Nigerian Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. His message matters beyond Nigeria because Kenya and other importers of fuel are weighing how much gas, petcoke and renewable power they need for the next decade.

Okwuosa's case for gas

Okwuosa said the shift to cleaner energy must not compromise reliable supply, warning that "Energy transition must not be mistaken for energy abandonment." He argued that renewables alone are not a practical replacement for fossil fuels today, and that reliable energy is the base for digital inclusion and industrialisation.

He called for investment in dependable supply, including Nigeria's natural gas reserves, alongside mini-grids and distributed power for communities the national grid does not reach. The transition, he said, has to deliver access, affordability, reliability, jobs and energy security, and not only lower 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. Oil and gas firms, he added, can use digital tools to raise efficiency and safety, cut gas flaring and get more from existing assets.

The money gap

Okwuosa said universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2035 would need nearly KSh 19.47T ($150B) in investment, about six times what the region spends each year.

The figure is consistent with the International Energy Agency's report on financing electricity access in Africa, which puts the total at roughly $150B, or about $15B (KSh 1.95T) a year, against less than $2.5B (KSh 324.53B) committed to new connections in sub-Saharan Africa in 2023.

The same report says at least $2B (KSh 259.62B) more a year is needed to make basic electricity services affordable. Okwuosa listed the obstacles as unreliable power, grid constraints, a lack of energy storage, limited finance, cybersecurity risks, regulatory bottlenecks and shortages of skilled workers.

Why a pipeline builder argues for gas

Okwuosa speaks as a builder of the infrastructure he is defending. Oilserv was incorporated in 1992, began operations in 1995 and started mainly with Shell Nigeria, before winning work from other international oil companies and Nigeria LNG Limited. It says it has completed 19 major pipeline projects covering more than 930 km, 28 above-ground facilities and 18 river crossings.

Its largest job is a section of the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano gas pipeline, valued at about KSh 363.47B ($2.8B), which is meant to carry gas from the south to power plants and factories in the north. Oilserv announced mechanical completion of its section in July, with gas treatment facilities and some valve stations due between late 2026 and early 2027.

In September the group signed an agreement with Gabon's government to develop hydrocarbon blocks DEF-3 and D4-5 and to build gas transport, compression and treatment infrastructure, its first move into Central Africa. Readers should weigh Okwuosa's argument with that commercial interest in mind: his company earns its living from gas infrastructure.

What it means for Kenya and the region

The debate is live in Kenya. As Mwenendo earlier reported on how Kenya weighs power from Dangote's Lamu refinery, KenGen's acting chief executive called petcoke power a transitional measure while peak demand rose from 2,241MW in September 2024 to 2,549MW in July 2026.

Mwenendo has also covered the refinery's profit swing in its first nine months of unaudited results, a sign of how much capital is flowing into African fuel and gas assets. Okwuosa's remarks add a second argument to that story: that African industry may need gas as a bridge, even as governments keep long-term clean power targets.

The remarks are an advocacy position rather than a policy decision, and no government has announced a change of energy plan in response. Investors and power planners will watch whether finance for grids, storage and mini-grids grows as fast as the funding gap the IEA describes.