Chairman of the African Energy Chamber NJ Ayuk delivered a lecture for HSE students

On March 31, 2025, the White Hall of the HSE University hosted a lecture “African Energy Agenda: Prospects and Challenges” by NJ Ayuk, Chairman of the African Energy Chamber. The event was organized by the HSE Center for African Studies within its educational “Africa” track and with the support of the Roscongress Foundation. The event was moderated by Vsevolod Sviridov, Deputy Director of the Center for African Studies.

At the beginning of the lecture Anastasia Likhacheva, Dean of the HSE Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, delivered a welcoming speech to the participants. She mentioned that Africa remains the largest undeveloped energy market in the world, and Russia is ready to help overcoming the knowledge gap about African energy and address key challenges of its development.

After that, moderator Vsevolod Sviridov presented the main results of the research on African energy markets conducted by the Center's experts and presented in the expert-analytical handbook Africa 2025: Prospects and Challenges (the chapter African resources to African markets: making mining and energy work for Africa).

“One of the most challenges faced by the African countries is the lack of reliable data on the state of the African energy sector. For example, we don’t know the exact number of diesel generators situated in Africa and the amount of electricity they produce,” - Sviridov noted.

During his lecture NJ Ayuk, Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, reported about the Chamber’s activity and his personal professional experience. He also spoke about key achievements in the field of African energy sector, Russian-African energy cooperation, and also about opportunities for Russian participation in the development of regional energy markets.

Mr Ayuk paid special attention to the topic of energy sovereignty: “What Africa really needs is empowerment. It’s not the assistance, but the right to shape its future development. This affects, among other things, the energy sector,” - he admitted.

According to the speaker, Russian-African cooperation in the energy sector has significant potential. For example, Gazprom is looking at the projects in the field of gas motor fuel and compressed natural gas, and Rosatom has started construction of a nuclear power plant in Egypt.

In Africa, there is a great demand Russian expertise and experience: “We need a full-depth analysis of the African energy sector to understand the prospects of its long-term development. This is a big challenge that African governments and the private sector are currently facing. That is why we appreciate our partnership with Russian think tanks,” - said NJ. In this regard, he highly respected Africa 2025 handbook and described it as “a source of valuable knowledge that supports activities at the level of government agencies, business leaders of all levels and international organizations.”

In the Q&A session that followed, the speaker answered questions from the audience. Working in African countries raised a special interest among the students. As NJ emphasized, Africa offers young people unique career opportunities in various sectors.

“You need to be focused on dong something big and important. You have to be a problem solver, very ambitious and ready to contribute to lives of others. In Africa, you can find so many challenges and so many opportunities at the same time. And one more tip that I want to give is to be brave enough,” - Mr. Ayuk addressed the students.

At the end of the event, Andrey Maslov, Director of the Center for African Studies, summarized the meeting. He expressed his gratitude to Mr. Ayuk for informative lecture and highlighted the importance of knowledge and experience sharing for maintaining and developing Russian-African contacts, including in the energy sector.

“For us its a great pleasure to host the African Energy Chamber here, in the HSE University. We hope to continue the expert and analytical dialogue, conduct joint projects including those involving students and strengthen our cooperation in the future.”