The efficient management of the power sector remains significant for Ghana’s economic growth and development, and the recovery of the economy from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. ACEP on March 11, 2021, held a Virtual Press Briefing during which it reviewed the sector, highlighted the issues that require priority attention and proposed some critical actions that should not be missed in the policy direction of the government.

Mining communities generally face socioeconomic challenges that require active, stable and efficient revenue sources to address. These socioeconomic challenges include pressure on infrastructure, employment and environment and social vices that need to be mitigated with financing. The delays and partial disbursement of funds deepen the pressure and affect the delivery of planned development programs. Therefore, the need to assess the impacts of such policies on the finances of MMDAs is opportune. The stakeholder engagement, which is virtual, will have participants drawn from relevant government institutions and mining communities. The discussions will deepen the knowledge on the funding challenges facing MMDA’s in implementing development plans and provide policy options to address these challenges.

The Africa Oil Governance Summit (AOGS) is the flagship programme of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). Instituted in 2015, the AOGS is convened annually in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The main goal of the Summit is to shed light and address pertinent governance and development issues pertaining to the management and use of oil and gas resources across the African continent. The AOGS thus creates an avenue for, and brings together, stakeholders in the oil and gas industry across Africa and beyond to deliberate on efficient and effective approaches to engender sustainable and inclusive development through exploitation of Africa’s oil and gas resources. Speakers, panelists, and participants are drawn from the public sector (government/state institutions), the private sector (local and foreign companies/businesses in the upstream and midstream petroleum sector), academia, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), development agencies/partners, and local and international media. The Summit has, since 2015, recorded about 1,100 direct participants with a yearly average of about 250. This excludes virtual participants who are engaged through both the electronic and social media.

Ghana’s legal framework ensures that communities affected by mining activities receive a portion of royalties paid to the state. In 2016, the Government of Ghana passed the Mineral Development Fund (MDF) Act (Act 912).

On June 4 2020, the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) organized a webinar to discuss the impact of Covid-19 on Africa’s oil and gas sector with a panel of stakeholders and over 600 participants drawn from Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique and Tanzania. The consensus on the way forward after the June 4 webinar was to provide the platform for international oil companies, national oil companies, and indigenous African oil companies and service providers to share the realities of their business management practices and the strategic adjustments they have made in surviving the impacts of the pandemic. The rationale is that COVID-19 has had varied impacts on the operations of companies in Africa’s upstream oil and gas industry, with the attendant consequences on company bottom lines, employment, revenue to governments, and communities. However, many stakeholders do not understand the nature of this impact because of limited conversations from the business community. In this webinar series, leaders from Exploration and Production companies, National Oil Companies, and Service companies operating in Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, and Kenya will engage civil society, citizens, governments and the development community on the nature of the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses and the value chain.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has significantly affected global economic growth and demand for oil. The effects of the pandemic on oil prices has been nothing short of devastating: they have reached their lowest levels since 1991 and currently stand at below $30 a barrel. This has posed an alarming threat to the cashflow of oil companies and revenue of African governments. Apart from South Africa, the continent's biggest economies rely heavily on oil revenue to finance state budget, particularly social spending, and ensure macro-economic growth.