In May 2009, the ECTT highlighted a recent report from the International Energy Agency, which stated that "Africa needs to spend $448 million on its power infrastructure over the next 20 years to meet projected demand." The report also highlighted plans for a West African Gas Pipeline project that will channel natural gas from Nigeria to Benin, Togo and Ghana in less than a year subsequent to the report. "By 2010, 133 million square cubic feet per day would be available," the report highlighted. Despite these massive projects, Africa suffers from a deficit of domestic private-sector capacity, leaving several countries of the continent with a critical skills shortfall. This shortage creates an enormous opportunity for countries such as T&T to make significant investment inroads in the energy sectors of African nations. "In addition to this, some of the African energy sectors are fairly new such as in Ghana and Uganda, and this opens up a wealth of opportunity for our investors," said Driver. The ECTT's African initiative to take advantage of these opportunities was sparked by former Prime Minister Patrick Manning's offer at the 2007, eighth Ordinary Session of the African Union Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to share the country's experience and expertise in the development of the energy sectors of member nations of the African Union. "T&T has a very good reputation and is considered a good brand by many countries in Africa. We are a democratic country and have a good rule of law and have managed our energy industry positively, and we've used our wealth from the energy industry to invest into the country," said Driver. "When stakeholders of African countries come and see Point Lisas and the works and expertise that go into the building of the platforms, and they note that all the heads of the multinational energy corporations are all local individuals, they are impressed and express that they want their industry to be like that of Trinidad and Tobago's," said Driver.