U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled a $7 billion initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years, in what could be his presidency's signature programme to benefit Africa.
"We've been dealing with agriculture, we've been dealing with health, now we're going to talk about power. Power Africa, a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Double it," said Obama.
Speaking at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, Obama said that to plug Africa into the grid of the global economy it has to have power.
"In partnership with African nations, we are going to develop new sources of energy that will reach more households, not just in cities but in villages and on farms. We'll expand access to those who live currently off the power grid and we'll support clean energy to protect our planet and combat climate change," said Obama.
