The energy crisis: The case of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), with special reference to Nigeria, Ghana and Burkina Faso

The energy crisis of West African countries has assumed major importance over the past few decades. The oil price increases of the 1970s have posed innumerable problems to these countries. But that is hardly the entire story. The vegetation cover of most places have been stripped so bare that people must walk for hours to find the day's supply of firewood, the traditional energy source.;Doing something about the problem involves, first of all, understanding what the situation really is. This study provides an analysis of the spatial, sectoral and social inequalities in energy production and consumption in ECOWAS. Scrutiny of energy resource forms and endowments, and end uses of energy suggests that there are vast asymmetries between areas, groups of people, and their economic set-ups.;An investigation of the energy industry suggests that political-institutional arrangements, explain the structure and dominance of the oil sector, to the neglect of the traditional biomass sector.;Implicit within the above, the study concludes that the success in mitigating the energy crisis lies in effective planning and implementation of energy programmes.