Professor Ekundayo Mesagan stood before an audience at Pan-Atlantic University's 26th inaugural lecture and said what many in clean energy circles would rather not hear: fossil fuels are not going anywhere.
His argument is grounded in practical reality. Fossil fuels will remain a critical part of the global energy mix, even as the world pushes toward greener alternatives. For many African nations still wrestling with basic energy access, an abrupt shift away from oil and gas is not a transition, it is a disruption.
The lecture, hosted at Pan-Atlantic University, marked the institution's 26th inaugural address, a series that has long used academic platforms to bring pressing economic and policy questions into public conversation. Mesagan's contribution lands at a moment when the energy debate is louder than ever, and the stakes for Africa are particularly high.
The question his lecture leaves hanging in the room is the one policymakers across the continent are quietly asking themselves: how do you build a future on renewables when the present still runs on fuel?
Originally published by BusinessDay.