The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in collaboration with the European Union (EU) held, yesterday in Abuja, the second Steering Committee meeting for Improving the Governance of the Energy Sector of ECOWAS Member States (AGoSE) with the aim of harmonizing national, institutional, legislative and regulatory frameworks in order to improve investment in renewable energy, energy sufficiency and the access to modern energy within the region.
During the meeting, participants reviewed the progress report of the AGoSE program, as well as its work plan and validated the recommendations of its technical assistance team in order to ensure the seamless execution of the program.
The Commissioner for Energy and Mines for ECOWAS, Sediko Douka, stated during his opening remarks that the meeting will give clear guidance to the technical team implementing the program to enable a smooth continuation of activities and components of the program.
This, he said, will contribute to improving the governance of the energy sector in West Africa and the establishment of an institutional and regulatory framework favorable to the promotion of investments in the sector.
Also in attendance was the Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Kurt Cornelis, who seized the opportunity to call for the strengthening of leadership and governance within the region as “governance issues largely account for the conditions of materialization of integration of the energy sector in West Africa”, he said.
The AGoSE program was launched in May 2018 and is funded by the 11th European Development fund to the tune of 32 million euros.
Its Steering Committee is comprised of representatives from the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREE), the West African Power Pool, the West African Economic Monetary Union, the German Development Agency (GIZ), Luxemburg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev) among others.
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