AUDIOBOOK
About
Two decades of negotiating African oil and gas deals have given NJ Ayuk a grasp of the continent's energy landscape that few can match. The American-educated, African energy lawyer serves up generous doses of that insight in his second book, Billions at Play: The Future of Africa Energy and Doing Deals.
Serving as a road map for the continent to do a better job of using its vast energy resources to improve its peoples' lives, Ayuk addresses how African countries can use their energy industries as springboards for diversifying and growing their overall economies.
In addition, Ayuk shows how African governments and local companies can negotiate better deals with international energy companies and how the continent's countries can use marginal oil and gas fields to develop domestic energy industries that, once strong, will compete globally.
Questions posed and answered:
**Why Africa's fledgling natural gas resources can allow the continent to emerge as a key global player in the industry
**What changes African countries can make in order to become attractive investment destinations
**The role that access to reliable, sustainable, and affordable power can play in the acceleration of economic growth
**Why and how American energy companies should stop curtailing their investments in Africa
**And why the continent's energy industry needs more women
The book's underlying theme is that too often, natural resources create wealth for foreign investors and a select group of African elites while everyday people (and in turn, African economies) fail to benefit.
While it is easy to see that there is a lack of local participation in African projects and an ongoing challenge in securing necessary investment, we also need to understand our role in this. We have to understand the importance of creating enabling environments with attractive fiscal terms for local and foreign investors, the role of stronger local content policies in ensuring more local participation in the sector, and the weight government and political uncertainty carries in moving projects forward.
Serving as a road map for the continent to do a better job of using its vast energy resources to improve its peoples' lives, Ayuk addresses how African countries can use their energy industries as springboards for diversifying and growing their overall economies.
In addition, Ayuk shows how African governments and local companies can negotiate better deals with international energy companies and how the continent's countries can use marginal oil and gas fields to develop domestic energy industries that, once strong, will compete globally.
Questions posed and answered:
**Why Africa's fledgling natural gas resources can allow the continent to emerge as a key global player in the industry
**What changes African countries can make in order to become attractive investment destinations
**The role that access to reliable, sustainable, and affordable power can play in the acceleration of economic growth
**Why and how American energy companies should stop curtailing their investments in Africa
**And why the continent's energy industry needs more women
The book's underlying theme is that too often, natural resources create wealth for foreign investors and a select group of African elites while everyday people (and in turn, African economies) fail to benefit.
While it is easy to see that there is a lack of local participation in African projects and an ongoing challenge in securing necessary investment, we also need to understand our role in this. We have to understand the importance of creating enabling environments with attractive fiscal terms for local and foreign investors, the role of stronger local content policies in ensuring more local participation in the sector, and the weight government and political uncertainty carries in moving projects forward.