JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, June 10, 2021/ -- Following Africa’s Oil Week announcement of moving their flagship Cape Town event to Dubai, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, Former APPO SG and Former Petroleum Minister of Niger Republic has expressed his dissatisfactory views of the annual industry conference leaving the continent. He criticizes the “humiliating idea” of African Oil Week in Dubai and urges that it sends a wrong message.

"Africans need to know that our dignity should not be given away. This is a clear sign of poor leadership. Africa will not reach its global potential if we continue to see supposedly investment promotion-focused organisations abandoning the continent at the smallest challenge" said, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya, Former APPO SG and Former Petroleum Minister of Niger Republic.

"The African Oil Industry is at a cross roads and going into COP26, we need to have an African Agenda on energy transition and energy poverty. These discussions cannot be had in Dubai. African Petroleum Producers and other energy producers should distance themselves from this initiative of taking Africans to Dubai." He further added.

Gaya encourages the idea of bringing African representatives and its global strategic partners to an African location to debate and find solutions and synergies to address the continent’s challenges and showcase its opportunities. He condemns  AOW’s lack of good leadership. With this in mind, he passionately suggests that governments and organisations alike should enforce a mandate of promotion and development of the oil and gas industry by standing up for it when it is necessary and lead the rest of the world by example.

In a dedicated approach, H.E Mahaman Laouan Gaya rails behind the African Energy Chamber, the Mozambican Oil and Gas Chamber and many others against the move of the pan-African event and calls on the international community to support this cause.