Energy policies in Africa, as in most other developing regions, have been in a state of flux ever since petroleum-based fuel prices began to rise significantly from late 1973. For African countries, the timing of this increase in energy prices could not have been at a worse juncture. In the early 1970s, many African countries — especially those in the Sudano-Sahelian region, had been ravaged by years of drought, which had seriously adverse impacts on food production. When energy crisis was superimposed on an already persistent food crisis on a group of developing countries whose economies were not robust and resilient enough to successfully withstand even one of such major crises, the results were predictable and catastrophic.
By Asit K. Biswas, 1986. Article published in Energy Policy, Volume 14, Issue 3, pages 281-284. DOI: 10.1016/0301-4215(86)90150-3