Deputy Energy Minister, Mohammed Amin Adam, has stressed the need for the continent’s political leaders to rethink the kinds of contracts, allocations and partnerships they strike in the Oil and Gas sector. According to him, they should be transparent.

Mr. Amin Adam made the call at the 3rd Africa Oil Governance Summit which was organised by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) – with support from the Ministry of Energy, Oxfam, the Natural Resource Governance Institute and some others. It was under the theme, “Maximizing the benefits of petroleum resources in Africa; the role of open contracting for efficient negotiations, revenue capture and effective revenue utilizations.”

Africa’s top five exports are Oil, Gas and minerals; with countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Angola standing out. Most of these natural resource-rich states have the lowest rank of economic and human development, compared to the rest of the world.

It is in view of this that, while speaking at the well-attended summit, Minister Mohammed Adam stressed the need for the continent’s political leaders to rethink the kinds of contracts, allocations and partnerships they strike in the Oil and Gas sector.

He reckoned that failure to broker transparent deals, worsening corruption and poor regulations by weak institutions are what deprive many African nations – including Ghana – of the right investments for development.

“The continent must rise up and acknowledge that, collectively, we have failed to make the most of what we have. That challenge, I believe, must begin with those in leadership… the problem is much attributed to corruption,” Mr. Adam stated.

He thus entreated leaders of the continent to commit themselves to maximizing the benefits of their abundant Oil and Gas discoveries by brokering open contracts, partnerships and allocations to attract the right investments, boost investor confidence and generate more revenue for development that is felt by the masses on the continent.