Water and electricity are essential for African development.

“Electricity and water attract investors, and African countries should find new modern methods to fund infrastructure … and consider public-private partnerships,” said Alkhoraiby, Sherif Alkhoraiby, founder of Partner of Experts for Development

“Out of 1,250 billion people in Africa, 635 million live in areas with no electricity, which is 57 percent of the population,” said Dr Abbas Sharaky, Head of Department of Natural Resources, Institute of African Research Studies at Cairo University

For Sharaky, Africa is rich in renewable and non-renewable resources; renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, wave, geothermal energy and non-renewables such as oil, coal, natural gas, uranium, but it has the lowest electricity supply and generation, making it the darkest continent at night, while 78 percent of the African population depend on biomass for cooking.

“Africa should invest more in human resources, tools and equipment to discover more natural resources that will benefit the continent in these areas,” said Sharaky.

The percentages of primary use of energy in Africa by country are: South Africa 21 percent; Nigeria 16 percent; Ethiopia 5 percent; Algeria with 6 percent and Egypt 11 percent – the rest are below 10 percent.

Sharaky also explained that Africa has very low agricultural production because of the lack of tools to cultivate, and lack of energy to rehabilitate, the land.