Re: Africa at the coalface of development (1)

A week ago I came across the above paper written by Tariro Kamuti, a consultant with Consultancy Africa Intelligence. The notes accompanying the paper constitute a treasure trove for students, academics, economists and policymakers in government.

However the paper bemoaned what it termed “The dilemma of coal as a necessary evil on the (African) continent”. I do not share that view, hence this rejoinder.

The paper says in part: “However, coal is now a fuel that is difficult to brush aside as it contributes to 39 percent of the world’s electricity production and is expected to remain so over the next 20 years, while it is also an important component of 64 percent of world steel production. Nevertheless, coal has detrimental environmental effects, such as air pollution and acid rain, which have been felt since the peak of the Industrial Revolution. The question then arises: should Africa continue using coal for much-needed development despite its negative environmental consequences?”

The truth is that apart from the Republic of South Africa, the rest of the continent hardly applies coal to the solution of its many problems, the major one being power generation. Hence the “negative environmental consequences” are actually unknown to us. Yes, we read about them.

For Nigeria and indeed the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, there is no dilemma involved here. Africa should in the short term increase its consumption of coal perhaps a hundredfold. I challenge anyone to prove that this quantum leap (from a very low base of per capita energy consumption) cannot be accommodated by a mere 5 percent reduction in the (over)usage of coal by the advanced economies of US, Europe, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. As I have stated in a previous essay, Nigeria and other energy-poor countries mainly in Africa have no business joining in the discussion and debate over global warming. Apart from the criminal flaring of natural gas associated with oil production, Nigeria as an “industrial nation (?)” currently contributes next to nothing towards the CO2 load in the ozone layer. The kind of commitments foolishly made on our behalf at Rio, Kyoto and other fora by Prof Aina and his successors were uncalled for. Nigeria must be industrialised first, thus earning a place at the table.

Read also: The curious case of excess electricity in Ghana

One other section of the above paper states as follows: “For example, South Africa possesses 11 percent of the world’s coal reserves and contributes about 6 percent to global production. The country has economically recoverable coal reserves of between 15 and 55 billion tonnes, of which 96 percent of reserves are bituminous coal. South Africa relies on coal for 92 percent of its electricity production.”

Isn’t that great? I would like to rivet the reader’s attention specifically to the 92 percent! One should compare and contrast with the situation in Nigeria.

The paper continues: “Nigeria too has vast unexploited coal resources. Consequently, the government has placed a high priority on resuscitating the coal mining industry in order to increase the country’s power generating capacity.”

My own observation is that there is no indication that the government of Nigeria (and my own colleagues ensconced comfortably in it) have any serious plan to develop the coal industry which is vital to the great leap forward in our power industry. I now state publicly that I am very much ashamed of them. Thus the above statement that “the government has placed a high priority on resuscitating the coal mining industry” is at best a rumour which is never a basis for economic planning. Coal mining, like copper, bauxite, iron ore, etc, is big and dirty business. It is not for the faint-hearted. It cannot be profitably done on a small scale or in secret. I have followed with subdued excitement the many press releases by and on the Eta-Zuma group. I am impatiently waiting for the coal and the coal-fired power plants.

Permit me to dabble into some enlightened estimation. For every quantum of electricity generated or projected (say, 20teraWhr), it will be quite easy to deduce the standard cost of the various major inputs. On the fuel side, not only will the cost of coal be much lower, it will be sourced domestically. A lion’s share of the fuel spend will be labour, i.e., mining labour. Only a fool will not see the jobs embedded in such an enterprise. There has been some rather infrequent but politically correct talk in the media on this score by people in government. We must go beyond that, and fast too.

The coal mining members of COSATU in South Africa probably constitute the largest and most powerful bloc in that nation. Their contribution is immense. So also is their well-deserved political clout. Without the coal and the electrical power derived from it, all other industries including gold, platinum mining and agricultural processing would not have had a fighting chance.

Oduche Azih