A high-level panel at the Global African Hydrogen Summit sketched an unapologetically practical roadmap for Africa’s green-energy build-out, blending Namibia’s insistence on value addition with European financing signals and detailed country playbooks from Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.
Opening the discussion, Ambassador Dr. Kaire Mbuende, Director-General of Namibia’s National Planning Commission (NPC), stated that green hydrogen “is not a pet project,” but rather an explicit pillar of the national development plan aimed at diversifying beyond mining and agriculture. “We believe it’s a new source of income,” he said, adding that the NPC’s job is to force alignment across sectors and avoid stranded assets.
“There are specific infrastructures that are needed by particular industries… Our role is to ensure synergy and alignment… common-use infrastructure that different sectors of the economy can use.”
Pressed on how that alignment moves from rhetoric to reality, Mbuende pointed to an “Infrastructure of the Future” master plan the NPC is using to convene oil and gas, agriculture, mining and hydrogen around shared corridors and utilities.
The vantage point matters, he argued: “This program is coming under [the NPC] so that it benefits from our bird’s-eye view of the entire economy and not just one sector.”
Foreign investment, he said, remains welcome—on Namibia’s terms.
“FDI brings capital [and] technology… but beneficiation and value addition are at the forefront of our agenda so that we do not continue to export raw material and create jobs elsewhere. These jobs must be created locally.”
His final note set the tone for the continent’s next phase: hydrogen must “play by different rules” from old extractive models, diversify early into derivatives such as fertilisers, and build domestic firms and skills to run the industry.
Europe’s message dovetailed with that line. EU Ambassador to Namibia Anna Beatriz Martins described the partnership with Namibia as a “success story,” rooted in Brussels’ own 2050 climate-neutrality target and supported by financing instruments.
She highlighted the Global Gateway Africa investment initiative—€150 billion for 2021–27—and the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus with €26.7 billion in guarantees, alongside blended finance and regulatory support. Namibia, she noted, was the first African country to sign a strategic partnership with the EU on green hydrogen and critical raw-materials value chains in 2022.
Asked bluntly why Europe is investing in Namibia’s green industrialisation, Martins answered: “It’s an obvious agenda… to bring prosperity to Namibia… generate decent jobs… and help us deliver on our climate targets. When our partners build prosperity through partnership, that is a win.”
Egypt’s First Undersecretary at the Ministry of Petroleum, Eng. Yassin Muhammad situated Cairo’s plans in Africa’s broader resource endowment.
“Africa holds some of the richest renewable resources in the world,” he said, citing International Energy Agency analysis that the continent could produce “five gigatons of hydrogen by 2030.”
He outlined Egypt’s 2024 Green Hydrogen and Derivatives Incentive Law—tax benefits, reduced land-use fees and streamlined approvals—and a flagship deal with Norway’s Scatec to produce 150,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually via the Mitra Green Ammonia Production Company, a project he said totals more than US$900 million and has signed offtake terms with Yara Clean Ammonia.
But he was frank about bottlenecks: “Securing hydrogen offtakers and long-term contracts… technology transfer… alignment of certification mechanisms [and] adequate infrastructure to connect demand and supply” are the shared hurdles he sees across the continent. His prescription: coordinated action and localisation “to unlock the full potential of hydrogen production in Africa and globally.”
Kenya’s representative, Richard Mavisi, Secretary, Geo Exploration at the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, pitched Nairobi as a proof point for renewables-led grids. “Ninety-three per cent of [Kenya’s] electricity is sourced from renewables, mainly geothermal,” he said, listing new geothermal units at Olkaria and Menengai, public-private frameworks to accelerate drilling, and battery energy storage to smooth variability from wind and solar. Policy is not the problem, he argued—execution and inclusion are.
Projects are anchored in the Least Cost Power Development Plan and Vision 2030, with local-content rules, SME participation, workforce upskilling, and gender equity spelt out in the Energy Act.
“We need to structure our projects so that we have all that is required—capacity building, financial structuring and implementation—bringing together financiers and implementers,” he said, adding that energy-led industrial growth must also “ensure food security for sustainable development.”
Nigeria’s Permanent Secretary for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Echa Vitalis Obi, described a dual-track transition—leveraging gas while seeding hydrogen.
He cited the Petroleum Industry Act’s regulatory clarity across upstream, midstream and downstream. He pointed to 210.5 trillion cubic feet of proven gas (with higher potential), the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano pipeline at “86%” completion, Nigeria LNG’s Train 7 adding roughly eight mtpa, and a production-sharing pact with TotalEnergies.
Abuja’s new National Energy Transition Policy and National Hydrogen Policy, he said, pursue blue hydrogen by reusing gas infrastructure while scaling up green hydrogen over time, complemented by a Presidential CNG initiative that converts vehicles to gas.
Financing is a constraint everywhere, he noted, which is why the planned Africa Energy Bank, with US$5 billion in capital, is designed to underwrite clean-energy infrastructure.
“Two things can be true,” he said in effect: oil and gas can coexist with a credible pathway to hydrogen and renewables—if investment rules are stable and projects move.
As the panel closed, each speaker returned to the same yardsticks. Martins said the EU would “remain committed” but warned “it’s a steep mountain to climb,” requiring governments, donors, investors and development banks to “put our forces together.” Muhammad called for firm offtake frameworks and infrastructure build-out to “facilitate implementation of projects and realize Africa’s… green hydrogen hub” ambitions.
Mavisi urged capacity and finance “across the value chain.” Obi pressed for budgeted commitments to training “future energy experts.”
And Mbuende brought it back to Namibia’s red line: FDI is an “integrated part” of development, but “local capacity… local competitive companies” and early-stage diversification will determine whether hydrogen transforms economies or merely ships molecules.
