Powering Africa's Economies: Prospects for Growth in Electricity Markets

Though U.S. attention on Africa has been steady over the course of decades, the focus has tended to center on security threats or humanitarian interests. But Nigeria has attracted considerable attention for its bid to expand domestic electricity output. West African prospects for electricity production are shaped in large part by Nigeria's potential to develop oil and natural gas reserves. The main cluster runs through Benin, Togo and Ghana and eventually reaching Ivory Coast along the Gulf of Guinea. Eventually the network could reach as far west as Senegal.