ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides a graphic picture of the desperate and growing pace of poverty in contemporary Africa. It demonstrates the correlation between energy supply and poverty alleviation, and explains that lack of access to modern energy services is one of the major constraints to economic growth and sustainable development and, indeed, to poverty alleviation in sub-Saharan Africa. It then discusses the problem of corruption in Africa and argues that because corruption is notoriously hard to measure or even define, it is impossible to say for certain whether corruption in Africa is increasing or whether it is worse than in other places. The book also examines some of the key factors that have contributed to the ugly poverty profile in Africa in the twenty-first century, its impact, and possible strategies by which to move Africa forward from this deplorable condition.