Africa’s youth are already at the heart of the continent’s energy future. The question is no longer whether it will have a role to play, but whether we are giving it the means to play it fully, commensurate with the challenges.
A generation facing a double challenge
Young Africans are growing up in a paradoxical context: a continent rich in energy resources – oil, gas, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal – but where hundreds of millions of people still do not have access to reliable, modern and affordable electricity.
At the same time, they see the world talking about energy transition, carbon neutrality, new technologies… often without their daily realities being fully integrated. For them, energy is not an abstract concept: it is the light in a classroom, the connection of a digital incubator, the functioning of a hospital, the possibility of creating a business.
Rapidly changing energy professions
One of the major changes in recent years is that energy professions are no longer limited to petroleum engineers or power plant technicians. The sector is transforming and with it, the skills map:
- classic professions, still essential: oil and gas engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial maintenance;
- new energy professions: renewable energy engineers, specialists in storage, energy efficiency, smart grid management;
- Data and digital professions: data analysis, modelling, infrastructure cybersecurity, control systems;
- regulatory and public policy professions: lawyers, economists, regulators, experts in governance, taxation, energy markets;
- Sustainability professions: Specialists in the environment, climate, social responsibility, community relations.
In other words, energy has become an ecosystem of skills. This opens up immense opportunities for African youth, provided that access to these professions is organized.
Without sovereignty of competences, there is no energy sovereignty
There is a lot of talk about energy sovereignty, independence, control of our resources and our decisions. But none of these ambitions is possible if our countries continue to depend mainly on external expertise.
True sovereignty comes through:
- universities and schools capable of training engineers, technicians and regulators at the highest level;
- continuing education programs that enable young professionals to keep up with rapidly changing technologies and standards;
- structured partnerships between States, national companies, private operators and training centres to align skills with the real needs of the projects.
It is precisely with this in mind that APPO has set up its Forum of Directors of Training Institutes in the Oil and Gas Sector. Launched to strengthen cooperation among member countries in training and skills development, the Forum aims to bring institutions closer together, share experiences and harmonize programmes. It is a concrete response to a major challenge: to equip Africa with the skills necessary to control its own energy destiny.
Investing in young people is not only about financing scholarships; it means giving them access to projects, responsibilities and career paths in the energy sector. It means accepting that it is a force for proposal, not just a force for execution.
Towards a unique African training catalogue
The ambition of APPO goes further: it is to gradually build a single African training catalogue in the field of energy. This is not a simple administrative exercise. It’s a strategic vision.
Such a catalogue would make it possible to:
- identify the training courses available in the different member countries;
- to make the paths more readable for young Africans;
- to harmonise standards and certifications;
- promote the mobility of students, technicians and young professionals;
- and, ultimately, to create a truly African brand of energy competence recognized at the international level.
This is an essential step towards an Africa that does not only exploit its resources, but also trains the women and men capable of developing them sustainably.
Giving youth a seat at the table
The debate on Africa’s energy future is still too often held without the presence of young people: technical meetings, international negotiations, conferences, decision-making bodies. They are invited for photos, and rarely for decisions.
However, the choices we make today – on oil, gas, infrastructure, renewables – are choices that structure their horizon, not ours. It is therefore legitimate for them to be:
- associated with the reflection: consultations, panels, forums of young energy professionals;
- present in the bodies: youth advisory committees to ministries and regional organisations;
- highlighted in the projects: “young talent” programmes, access to responsibilities on innovative projects.
Talking about “African youth and energy professions” must not be limited to celebrating an abstract potential, but to organizing a real co-construction of the energy future with it.
An editorial to express our responsibility
In this month of August, traditionally dedicated to youth, the message we can carry is clear:
- African youth are not a supplement to our energy policies; it is the pillar of it.
- Energy professions are no longer a closed field, but a huge field of opportunities, which must be opened up to our young people, our women and our entrepreneurs.
- Our collective responsibility – states, institutions, companies – is to invest massively in skills, training, professional integration and to give this generation the means to be actors, not spectators, in the continent’s energy transformation.
If Africa manages to align its natural resources with the talents of its youth, then it will not only be a player in the global energy transition: it can become one of its architects.
“The day Africa itself trains the women and men who control its energy, on that day, it will no longer negotiate its place in the world: it will define it.”
