By Alusine Fullah
Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh has called for a climate resilient intervention and the critical involvement of the private sector to address the challenges of the energy sector in Sierra Leone. The VP said this in his closing statement at the two-day national dialogue on Sierra Leone’s Energy Transition plan chaired by Hon Dr Kandeh Yumkella, Chairman of the Climate Change and Food Security Initiative in the Office of the President, and held at the Freetown City Council Conference room on the 24th October, 2023.
In a tweet, just after the event, VP Dr Juldeh Jalloh had this to say: “Today, I had the great honour of closing Sierra Leone’s Energy Transition Plan chaired by @KYumkella. The two-day national dialogue allowed us to take stock of the plethora of studies undertaken by Sierra Leone’s energy sector and identify opportunities to mainstream climate change outcomes in its sustainable development. In my speech, I highlighted key considerations to drive our energy transition including targeted capacity building support to create a pipeline of skilled professionals across a multitude of energy value chains such as oil and gas to meet current and future job demands in the sector’s transformation and ultimately its contribution to the global net zero agenda. I concluded by reiterating the critical role of private sector participation in the energy sector and the benefits that can be attained from leveraging climate resilient interventions to unleash sustainable economicgrowth.
Vice President went further to highlight key considerations to drive Sierra Leone’s energy transition. He said: “This initiative allows us to buster or catalyze the productive sector because at the end of the day that is where the drive is. In the last two days, we have discussed extensively about energy poverty particularly as it relate to access, but more importantly how lack of energy limits our capabilities to transform productive sectors that hold the potential for job creation, increase revenue and stimulate economic growth. This clearly shows that at the heart of any country’s development agenda it is an enabling infrastructure to propel growth. I am confident that an investment in the energy sector is no doubt critical in that endeavour.”
The VP added: “Equally, today we have global obligations and responsibilities of not only replicating the energy development best strategies that are heavily carbon-based, but to think creatively about an energy transition plan with climate resilience at the same time while we admit that this is indeed very urgent we are however moderated by the quality of a shared future we want to leave behind. We also care about sustainable climate resilient investment in the energy sector. Because it is critical to leveraging untapped resources in climate finance which most countries particularly countries like Sierra Leone we do need today…
VP Juldeh Jalloh also expressed the great ambition that President Bio has for an excellent transition of the Sierra Leone energy sector. He said: “…at the same time, His Excellency the president has a clear goal to transition Sierra Leone to become a net energy exporter, reducing reliance on imported HFO generation, and driving economic development. The stated ambitious goal by His Excellency the president is to grow grid generation capacity from 200MW to 1GW in 10 years and 200 mini-grids to support energy access for agricultural production…”
The VP appeared to be on top of his game in this closing statement to the extent that even the energy experts present were nodding their heads in appreciation while listening to him.
Copy right –Printed in the Expo Times Newspaper on Friday 27th October, 2023 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)