Africa Must Retain Energy Wealth Within the Continent, Says ALCO Chairman at SAIPEC 2026

Chairman of the African Local Content Organisation (ALCO), Engr. Wole Ogunsanya, has called for stronger collaboration among African countries to ensure that a greater share of oil and gas industry investments, expertise, and revenues remain within the continent, stressing that local content development is critical to job creation, poverty reduction, and economic growth.

Ogunsanya made the call during the African Local Content Series at the 2026 Sub-Saharan Africa International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (SAIPEC) held in Lagos.

He highlighted the significance of the newly convened first general assembly of African local content organisations, describing it as a strategic platform to coordinate policies, strengthen regional cooperation, and build African industrial capacity across the energy value chain.

According to him, Africa’s population of about 1.5 billion people — the youngest in the world — makes it imperative for governments and industry stakeholders to design systems, laws, and processes that prioritise employment creation and capacity development for African citizens.

“We’re the youngest continent in the world. The average age of an African is below 30 years old. So all of this teeming youth that we have, we have to engage them. They have to be employed. It doesn’t matter how much oil we produce. We don’t have the luxury of having Saudi Arabia model,” he said, noting that unlike smaller energy-producing regions with limited populations, African countries must develop their own human capital and industrial infrastructure to meet the needs of their rapidly growing populations.

Ogunsanya explained that ALCO was established as a continental platform in which each African country is represented equally, ensuring fairness and preventing dominance by larger economies while promoting knowledge sharing, technology transfer, and regional industrial partnerships.

He noted that the organisation’s regional cooperation model would allow African countries to share equipment, expertise, and technical personnel across borders, helping to sustain industry activities even during periods of oil price volatility. Such collaboration, he added, would enable emerging producers such as Uganda, Mozambique, and Namibia to access technical support from more experienced African industry players.

The ALCO chairman also stressed the importance of ensuring that financing raised for energy projects within Africa translates into economic benefits for African companies and workers. He warned that when African-sourced funding is spent largely on foreign contractors, the continent loses significant economic value that could otherwise contribute to domestic growth.

“We cannot raise African funds, spend African funds, and have it leave Africa. So that’s what we’re trying to do in AlCO,” he said. “We want as much of this value chain to  stay in Africa.”

Ogunsanya further disclosed that ALCO would work closely with regulators, national oil companies, and regional energy institutions to strengthen local participation in the sector and promote coordinated industrial development strategies across member countries.