The Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kofi Osafo Maafo, has acknowledged the lack of electricity infrastructure in Africa is hindering the continent's development. 

He said that the absence of this critical infrastructure is a significant barrier to growth across the continent.

During a panel discussion held on the sidelines of the launch of the 2025 African Dialogue series organised by the African Prosperity Network, Mr Osafo Maafo highlighted the importance of energy infrastructure in driving development on the continent. 

The launch was under the theme ‘Delivering Africa’s Prosperity Through Infrastructure: Invest. Integrate. Connect,’ focusing on addressing the infrastructure challenges facing Africa and how to use the African Continental Free Trade Area to leverage on growth for the continent.

He drew the analogy of how a small country like Spain in Europe has more electricity coverage than the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa.

This, he asserted, was worrying and begged urgent change.  

Mr Osafo Maafo underscored the prevalent issues of energy generation and transmission losses, which have long plagued Africa's development efforts.

He emphasised these challenges have been persistent obstacles to the continent's growth trajectory.

Despite the rapid pace of growth witnessed across Africa, Mr Osafo Maafo lamented the lack of adequate infrastructure to sustain this progress.

He stressed the need for Africa to invest in building redundancy within its infrastructure systems to ensure resilience and sustainability in the face of challenges.

In conclusion, Mr Osafo Maafo called for concerted efforts to address the infrastructure deficits in Africa, particularly in the energy sector, to unlock the continent's full growth potential.