Nigeria, Feb. 23 -- When African energy ministers, sovereign wealth fund managers, mining executives and project financiers converge in Dubai this June, the conversation will be markedly different from those of previous years.

There will be no talk of simply lighting up homes or connecting villages to the grid. The agenda has moved on - and so has Africa.

The 28th edition of the Africa Energy Forum (AEF) is scheduled to be held in Dubai in June 2026.

Under the theme Building Africa's Industrialised Future, the forum signals a decisive break from the development-speak that has long defined how the world talks about African energy.

The continent, its leaders argue, now needs power on an industrial scale, the kind that runs smelters, dat...