Experts highlight importance of reliable energy for industrial growth in West Africa
Policymakers, industry leaders and energy experts have emphasised the importance of reliable and affordable energy in enabling factories to operate efficiently and expand production within the increasingly integrated West African
Policymakers, industry leaders and energy experts have emphasised the importance of reliable and affordable energy in enabling factories to operate efficiently and expand production within the increasingly integrated West African market.
They made the call at the West Africa Industrialisation, Manufacturing and Trade (IMT) Summit 2026, where participants gathered to examine key drivers of industrial competitiveness across the region.
According to the experts, discussions around manufacturing competitiveness in West Africa often focus on issues such as market access, availability of capital and trade policy.
Delivering the keynote address, the Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, John Uwajumogu, said manufacturers across the region continue to face operational costs that would typically not exist in a well-functioning industrial ecosystem.
Uwajumogu explained that many manufacturers incur additional expenses from generating their own electricity and developing parallel infrastructure, a situation he noted reduces the value of investments and compels several factories to operate far below their installed production capacity.
To counter this, he outlined the government's commitment to building an "architecture of scale" through the National Industrial Policy (NIP).
He said the framework prioritizes economic clusters to provide immediate cost relief, alongside a three-pronged strategy: demand-side industrialisation, localising supply chains, and accountable industrial financing.
The scale of the burden was further illustrated by , Country President of Schneider Electric West Africa, Ajibola Akindele, who estimated that energy typically accounts for 30 to 40 percent of total operational costs for manufacturers in the region.
Read Also: Nigeria being positioned as Africa’s renewable energy hub, says REA MD
He noted that, for firms that must rely on a combination of grid electricity and diesel or gas generators to sustain operations, that additional premium severely undermines both competitiveness and margins.
Other speakers at the summit pointed to a persistent structural paradox within the regional power landscape.
According to the President and Managing Director of GE Vernova for Anglo-West & Francophone Africa, Mohammed Mijindadi, the challenge is often not the absence of generation capacity, but the inefficiencies across the power value chain.
He reasoned that, while generation potential exists, the infrastructure linking generation to transmission and distribution does not function symmetrically, and as a result, less than half of the region’s population currently has access to reliable electricity, creating a significant barrier to industrial readiness.
In his view, Group Managing Director/CEO of Mojec International, Chantelle Abdul highlighted the depth of this disconnect, noting that only about one-third of transmitted electricity ultimately reaches end users.
She proposed the adoption of Energy-as-a-Service models, which would allow manufacturers to pay for reliable power as a managed service rather than bearing the capital-intensive burden of building their own generation capacity.
Abdul also emphasized that the electrification of 300 million Africans by 2030 represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity across the power value chain, provided longstanding challenges around revenue collection and metering are resolved.
Beyond diagnosing the problem, industry leaders also outlined possible market and policy solutions.
The experts identified four pillars as essential to progress: regulatory consistency, sector bankability, physical security of infrastructure, and technical capacity development.
Mijindadi argued that the greatest barrier to long-term investment is not the absence of policy frameworks, but the lack of consistent enforcement and transparency.
He stressed the need for stronger sector bankability, where regulatory clarity allows investors to confidently negotiate long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
As he noted, private sector participation in the energy market requires long-term commitment but only in an environment where regulatory rules remain stable.
The call for stronger policy alignment was echoed by Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Enoh who positioned energy and industrial infrastructure as a central pillar of the newly launched National Industrial Policy (NIP).
The Minister framed energy reliability not merely as an operational concern for manufacturers but as a strategic imperative for national competitiveness.
According to him, the region can no longer afford to export its economic vulnerability by relying primarily on raw material extraction while domestic factories remain underutilized due to unreliable power supply.
By the end of the summit, the stakeholders and experts agreed that the region’s industrial ambitions are inseparable from the stability of its energy infrastructure.
It was agreed that bridging the estimated 40 percent cost disadvantage faced by manufacturers will require deliberate efforts to develop industrial clusters and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) equipped with plug-and-play energy infrastructure.
They also emphasised that, by de-risking capital deployment and ensuring that energy, trade, and industrial policies are more closely aligned, West Africa can begin the transition from a global feedstock provider to a competitive manufacturing hub.