Pan-Atlantic University (PAU) hosted its twenty sixth inaugural lecture, delivered by Professor Ekundayo Peter Mesagan, Professor of Energy and Environmental Economics within the School of Management and Social Sciences (SMSS), at the Honeywell Group Auditorium, Lagos Business School.
At the inaugural lecturer, the PAU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Enase Okonedo, described Professor Mesagan as “an economist, researcher and policy advisor whose work spans energy and environmental economics, industrial policy, natural resources and sustainable economic development.”
Delivering the lecture titled: ‘Making Lemonade from Lemons: The Fossil Energy & Sustainability Puzzle’, Mesagan examined the strain between the worldwide push for environmental sustainability and the developmental realities of oil-rich and energy-deficient nations. He framed the dialogue with a central query: “In the last few decades, the global argument for environmental sustainability has been that we should deemphasise the use of fossil energy while scaling up other forms of energy that are less carbon-dioxide emitting. Is this true or not? What should happen to oil-rich nations, especially developing countries? Should they fold up, or should they seek alternative sources of income for financing their projects?”
He argued that the power transition is way extra advanced than merely substituting fossil fuels with renewables, as technological and value constraints imply fossil fuels will stay a part of the worldwide power combine for the foreseeable future.
