Last year Professor Herick Othieno, a Kenyan national and Professor of Physics at the Maseno Universtiy in Kisumu, Kenya was selected to be The Britain-Nigeria Educational Trust’s second visiting academic for Ibadan University under their Commonwealth Fellowship programme. During his successful three-month placement he was primarily engaged in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Solid State Physics but he also took the opportunity to undertake research in the field of Renewable Energy Development and Application.

That research has resulted in his latest book Energy Resources in Africa just published by Springer. Springer is a global publishing company based in Berlin that publishes books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, technical and medical publishing and their review reads as follows:

Africa is considered one of the poorest continents in the world, mainly because of its low per capita energy consumption in Sub-Saharan region. This view and its associated resource management strategy are based on the misconception that Africa lacks sufficient energy resources to drive its development agenda.

This book provides information on the distribution of the available energy resources throughout the continent and how its management affects the development of individual states. Analyses of the countries’ energy potentials, exploitation levels and distribution mechanisms are provided with a view to identifying additional factors that are stifling Africa’s economic development. The author provides an in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources in terms of their impacts on Africa’s economic development. This analysis is based on the assertion that Africa is indeed blessed with abundant energy resources, which have not been effectively exploited. There are many challenges and opportunities in each country that are viewed with due consideration given to the prevailing national resource management practices. Leaders’ desire to control resources has encouraged corruption, theft, and mere selfishness to thrive. In addition to the negative impacts of these factors on energy development initiatives, there is also a general lack of institutional support for progressive energy management. The book offers a valuable guide for developers, investors and researchers by providing in-depth analysis of Africa’s energy development trends.

Energy Resources in Africa is available online through the Springer Shop at springer.com in either e-book format or hardback.