Connect with us
ECOWAS, under the Regional Joint Border Post Development program is collaborating with the Mano River Union (MRU) Secretariat and three (3) Member States namely Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia and Guinea, to implement the facilitation components of the MRU Multinational Highway and Transport Facilitation Program comprising the construction of a Joint Border Post at Prollo and bridge over the Cavalla border river between Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire as well as a Joint Border Post (JBP) between Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire at the Gbapleu border.
The projects are being funded with grants from the African Development Bank (AfDB), and counterpart funding from the ECOWAS Commission for the project management and coordination.
In this regard, the Commission is holding technical validation workshops from 25th to 30th November 2022 to consider draft Engineering Design Reports and Architectural Drawings for the Border Bridge over the Cavalla River and the two JBPs. The Project Manager, Eng. Ashoke Maliki Head of Division, Roads and Railways of the ECOWAS Commission, recalled that in line with the Terms of Reference of the Design Study, the documents to be reviewed and validated will consist of reports on traffic projections, geotechnical studies, and technical drawings (architectural, civil, and structural, electro-mechanical) and other related design elements.
The workshop also considered the environmental and social impact assessment reports to ensure that the projects respond to the environment and the requirements of adjoining communities, as well as address safeguards of the African Development Bank for such projects, especially as it relates to providing for gender and vulnerable groups.
In his welcome address, the Ag. Director of Transport, Mr. Chris Appiah, on behalf of the ECOWAS Commission for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization, Mr. Sediko Douka, highlighted the importance of the three projects to achieving the regional integration agenda of ECOWAS.
He said “the Border Bridge and two JBPs at the border of Cote d’Ivoire with Liberia and Guinea, are projects which bring a physical manifestation to the mantra of the new ECOWAS Vision 2050, – “ECOWAS of Peoples, Peace and Prosperity for all”.
The projects also aim to support the realization of the 4×4 Strategy of the current Management of the Commission, specifically objective 2 on “Deeper Regional Integration” and Objective 4 “Inclusive and Sustainable Development” on the construction of the JBPs and improvement of road corridors.
The projects are key contributions to improve the Trans-Coastal Corridor which commences from Praia in Cabo Verde through Dakar to Lagos in Nigeria.
Eventually, the plan is to connect to Central Africa and East Africa to end at the Port of Mombasa in Kenya.
He ended by urging Member State experts to put on their regional integration and free movement caps as they consider the reports.
The Directors representing the Public Works Ministries of Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia also pledged the continued support of countries to the completion of the projects.
They assured ECOWAS of their support to expedite the completion of the designs in order for the actual construction to begin, since the continued delay of the transport facilitation components is impacting on their respective portfolios with the African Development Bank. The Officer-In-Charge of Regional Integration projects of the Mano River Union Secretariat pledged their support to ECOWAS fast-track the construction of the projects.
Considering the multifaceted nature of these regional integration projects, the meeting was also attended by the Director of Free Movement of Persons and Migration of ECOWAS Commission, Program Officers from Information Technology Services, Procurement, and the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre based in Dakar, Senegal.
The projects will align with other community initiatives such as the ECOWAS Cross Border Cooperation Program which seeks to improve on the living standards of citizens of towns and villages surrounding land borders.
The technical validation workshop will end on 30th November, 2022 with the final validated engineering and architectural designs, environmental-social impact interventions, and set of tender documents to be used to recruit the works contractor for the construction of the bridge over the Cavalla border river and the two Joint Border Posts at Prollo and Gbapleu between Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia and Guinea respectively, which is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2023.
The European Union on Tuesday launched a €1.9 million scholarship program on sustainable energy for postgraduate students from West African countries and Mauritania.
Ms Cecile Tassin-Pelzer, Head of Cooperation, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, at the inauguration of the EU-ECOWAS Fellowship Program on Sustainable Energy, said the programme, which was run in collaboration with ECOWAS , was being implemented in the Council.
According to Tassin-Pelzer, the EU-ECOWAS scholarship program offers scholarships for Master's degrees in the sustainable energy sector at specialized universities in West Africa. She said it was part of efforts to ensure people in the region have access to clean, sustainable energy. Energy.
He said efforts were underway in West Africa to share the goals and benefits of the transition to green energy.
“During the African-European Union Summit earlier this year, we launched the Africa Global Gateway investment package.
“It brings €150 billion in investment to Africa to consolidate existing investments and launch new ones.
“Under the new EU 2021-2027 multiannual indicative program for Sub-Saharan Africa, we are planning to allocate €600 million of grants in the sustainable energy sector in West Africa alone.
“As demonstrated, the EU is also available to support the human capital development that accompanies this transition,” he said.
According to her, this will be achieved by strengthening the capacity of higher education institutions in West Africa in the sustainable energy sector through scholarships.
“This €1.9 million program is implemented by the Council in close collaboration with the ECOWAS Commission. “Their goal is to facilitate increased access for ECOWAS member states and Mauritania to selected West African institutions that provide high-quality curriculum in renewable energy,” he said.
Tassin-Pelzer said the innovative component of the program was the mentoring scheme to further broaden recipients' skills in the sector.
He also said that the program was important to improve the regional management of the energy sector in West Africa.
Mr. Alex Lambert, Country Director, British Council, Senegal, said the EU scholarship was a fully funded Master's program in a range of sustainable energy courses at nine specialist universities in six West African countries.
Lambert said that nine higher education institutions were selected taking into account the course curriculum, infrastructure and the ability to receive foreign students, among others.
He said that higher institutions are recognized for their high-quality curriculum in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
He listed the institutions to include: Obafemi Awolowov University, Nigeria, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Nsukka University of Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, and Ecole Polytechnique de Thies Senegal.
Others are: Universite Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegal, Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Cote D'Ivoire, Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Ingenieurs Universite de Lome, Togo, and ld University of Cape Verde, Cape Verde.
“The opportunity is open to all citizens of ECOWAS and Mauritania who have a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, energy and environment, law, economics, finance and planning.
“Applicants can apply to any of the nine institutions in any of the six countries and special consideration will be given to female applicants,” she said.
Lambert said 75 applicants would be selected with a focus on female applicants.
Mr. Sediko Douka, Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, ECOWAS Commission, praised the EU and the British Council for assisting the region in sustainable energy development.
Douka said the move would be of great help to the region and called on the implementing partner to be fair to all applicants in the selection process.
Ms Lucy Pearson, Country Director, British Council Nigeria and West Africa Cluster said the Council would draw on its experience in managing scholarships and partnerships with higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa to manage the scholarships.
“We are particularly excited that the overall EU objective for this program complements the long-standing work of the British Council to improve human capital development,” he said.
edited
Source Credit: NAN
On Thursday, September 15, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Rabat, Morocco, between ECOWAS, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Morocco.
The three parties were represented respectively by Mr. Sediko Douka, ECOWAS Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalization Commissioner, Mallam Mele Kolo Kyari, Group Executive Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and Ms. Amina Benkhadra, Managing Director of the Office National des Hydrocarbons.
et des Mines (ONHYM).
According to a published joint statement, the Memorandum of Understanding attests to the commitment of ECOWAS and all the countries crossed by the pipeline, to contribute to the technical and feasibility studies, the mobilization of resources and the execution of this key project.
.
This project, once completed, will supply gas to all West African countries and open a new export channel to Europe.
It is a strategic project that will contribute to improving the standard of living of the population, integrating the economies of the region, reducing the level of desertification thanks to a sustainable and reliable gas supply and the reduction or total elimination of gas flaring, among others.
.
Sixteen countries including fourteen ECOWAS Member States are involved in this project.
The project will also help other countries to export their surplus natural gas: Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mauritania.
The Nigeria-Morocco strategic gas pipeline project will traverse the west coast of Africa from Nigeria to Morocco, through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania.
In the long term, it will be connected to the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline and to the European gas network.
It will also help serve the landlocked countries of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Commissioner Sediko Douka, speaking on behalf of the Chairman of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Alieu Touray, stated that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held the view that the Nigeria-Morocco pipeline project it was really workable and therefore he would spare no effort.
for its success: We, as a regional economic community, are convinced that it is a viable project, that promises a lot, and we will spare no effort for its success».
The Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization of ECOWAS also reaffirmed, on behalf of the president of the ECOWAS Commission, the full support for this regional project that would positively impact the lives of more than 400 million people.
“The impact of the project is far-reaching because it would help secure electricity supply in the West African region and, in the long term, the export of natural gas for fuel in Europe.
We have carefully monitored the feasibility studies at various validation levels from start to finish, he revealed, adding that the next phase would involve detailed execution design, resource mobilization and actual construction.
With the launch of the project, it will seek to attract public and private investors, including multilateral or commercial banks, pension funds, insurance companies, among others.
The project will cover 6,000 km and will cost US$25 billion.
The financing of the project is expected to involve various stakeholders.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was attended by government officials from the Kingdom of Morocco, Ms. Nadia Fettah Alaoui, Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Mohcine Jazouli, Minister of State for Evaluation of Public Policies, Convergence and Investments.
Finally, a courtesy call was made to HE Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad.
ECOWAS, through the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, has organized a regional awareness workshop on the implementation of the new ECOWAS Road Safety Policy, Action Plan and Charter in Accra, Ghana, from 8 to 9 December.
September 2022.
The new Policy, ECOWAS Road Safety Charter, Action Plan and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework prepared under the Regional Transport Governance Technical Assistance Project for West Africa with financial support from the EU, was approved at the 60th Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on December 12, 2021.
In his welcome speech, ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, Mr. Sediko Douka, whose speech was read by Mr. Chris Appiah, Ag. Director, Transportation, welcoming the participants to the workshop.
He said that the main objective of the workshop is to seek the acceptance of the Member States, stakeholders and partners in the recently approved Regional Road Safety Policy, the Charter and its Action Plan. He explained that the intent is to bring all hands on deck as we fight together and better coordinate actions toward reducing fatalities on our national and regional highway corridors.
He added that “this is also intended to provide an ECOWAS response to the United Nations Second Decade of Action for Road Safety with the global goal of reducing road traffic deaths and injuries by at least 50 per cent by 2030.
By the end of the day, we will agree on workable modalities to successfully deliver our Action Plan interventions within the established time frames, taking due account of our strengths, opportunities and any anticipated threats.
To ensure alignment and synergies with continental and international initiatives, the workshop will also benefit from presentations from the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the World Bank's SSATP."
In his remarks, the Honorable Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport of the Republic of Ghana, recalled the efforts made to prepare a harmonized Road Safety Policy and Charter for the sub-region and noted that an opportunity to collectively agree on the implementation timelines of the Plan of Action to put the Policy and the Charter into practice, as well as agree on the modalities for implementation by all stakeholders, is being presented through this workshop.
He said: “For us in Ghana, we are guided by the fact that safer and more efficient mobility systems have a direct impact on our national economies.
For this reason, we remain committed to promoting road safety in the country.
We have strengthened the capacity of our lead road safety agency with an enhanced mandate to ensure institutional compliance with road safety regulations with a provision to sanction non-compliance.
We are also reviewing our Road Traffic Law and Regulations to reflect changes and emerging trends in the trucking industry.
Furthermore, Ghana has developed its third strategy for road safety management called National Road Safety Strategy IV (2021-2030).
This strategy is in line with the UN's Second Decade of Action for Road Safety, which has a goal of reducing deaths and injuries by 50% by the end of 2030."
Subsequently, the workshop delved into technical sessions in which the contents of the policy, the charter and the action plans were discussed in detail.
Some key areas addressed were actions to regulate the age of imported used vehicles, the use of motorcycles and three-wheelers, harmonized safety-sensitive road design standards, sustainable financing for road safety activities, harmonization of training regional drivers, harmonization of data on traffic accidents and others.
In the end, an updated Regional Action Plan was agreed with milestones, objectives and deadlines for activities for its implementation by ECOWAS and member states with input from development partners and civil society actors, starting of the first quarter of 2023.
The Conference of Heads of State during the 60th Summit held in December 2021 approved the ECOWAS Regional Infrastructure Master Plan. The master plan is for the period 2020-2045 and includes 201 regional projects at an estimated cost of 131 billion dollars.
One of the complementary measures of the Infrastructure Master Plan is the need to start an awareness campaign to better promote the Plan among stakeholders, including regional organizations.
This will aim to establish the Master Plan as the strategic and authoritative framework for infrastructure development in ECOWAS recognized by all stakeholders.
Accordingly, the ECOWAS Commission organized an awareness workshop from 29 to 30 August 2022 in Accra, Ghana, to present the master plan to ministries in charge of transport of ECOWAS member states, as well as partners.
such as the ECOWAS Investment and Development Bank and the Spanish Cooperation for International Development (AECID) to reflect on the mobilization of resources, coordination and implementation of the Master Plan, particularly in the transport sector.
The opening ceremony was marked by a welcome speech by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, Mr. Sediko Douka, on behalf of the President of the Commission, HE Alieu Omar TOURAY, and an opening speech by the Director of Politics.
and Planning Mrs. Rita OHENE SARFOH, on behalf of the Honorable Minister of Roads and Highways of Ghana.
The meeting was attended by ECOWAS Member States and Development Partners.
Also in attendance were representatives of the ECOWAS Commission and Specialized Agencies, as well as the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID), represented by the Vice President of Operations.
The ECOWAS Commission, in the framework of the project Organized Crime: West African Response on Cybersecurity and fight against Cybercrime” (OCWAR-C) and in collaboration with the Council of Europe and INTERPOL, held a training of trainers workshop on E- Evidence and First Responders in Praia, Cape Verde, July 25-29, 2022.
Reliance on information and communications technology is more pervasive in society, with increased use of personal devices across the region.
This has necessitated the need for law enforcement entities to develop the necessary capabilities to ensure that the efficient investigation and handling of digital evidence is carried out to appropriate standards.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Folake Olagunju Senior Program Officer Internet, Cybersecurity and Electronic Applications at the ECOWAS Commission on behalf of Mr. Sediko Douka, Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization, underlined the importance of having a coordinated approach and towards a more secure ECOWAS cyberspace.
She highlighted the need for participants to share their national perspectives and experiences, as this was an opportunity to build bridges and lay the groundwork for cooperation regarding future partnerships.
Although she wanted the training to be interactive, she ended up emphasizing the need to build human capacity in a consistent and harmonized manner throughout the region.
The deputy head of the EU delegation in Cape Verde, Ignacio Sobrino Castello, recalled the objectives of the OCWAR-C project, which is to support the strengthening of the cyberspace of the beneficiary countries and the capacities in the fight against cybercrime.
He spoke about the EU's ongoing developments in Cape Verde on cybersecurity and on the fight against cybercrime and on the digital economy in general.
He highlighted the need to improve cooperation between ECOWAS member states and the ECOWAS commission and international partners.
He ended by encouraging everyone's active participation.
On behalf of the Secretary of State for the Digital Economy of Cape Verde, Mr. Joel Almeida, Advisor to the Secretary, welcomed all participants to Cape Verde and reaffirmed Cape Verde's commitment to play its role in the cyber ecosystem of the region.
He indicated that Cape Verde's national cybersecurity strategy contains concrete implementation actions that are in line with the ECOWAS regional cyber strategy adopted in 2021.
He also stated that the national cybersecurity center and the CSIRT-CV are underway.
Finally, he praised the organization of the upcoming first ECOWAS Hackerlab Regional Challenge scheduled to be held on October 10-12, 2022 as a great opportunity to bring the community together to spark interest in the current challenges of keeping our region cyber-secure and as a means to find young talent who are ready to be the next generation of skilled cybersecurity workers.
Prior to the face-to-face training workshop, which consisted of advising and understanding the contents and principles of electronic evidence collection for first responders, participants participated in a short three-week private online course to equip them with the knowledge and skills to design and evaluate learner-focused training following INTERPOL training standards.
The week-long training program built the capacity of law enforcement representatives from Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
The OCWAR-C project is funded by the European Union and the objectives are to improve the resilience and robustness of the information infrastructure in the Member States; increase the capacities of the relevant stakeholders in the Member States in charge of fighting cybercrime.
The Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP) formally kicked off activities in Nigeria on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Abuja. The event took place at a workshop attended by representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, the Nigerian Ministry of Energy, and stakeholders from the public and private sectors, including civil society organizations, NGOs, and commercial banks.
The main dual objective of the workshop was to introduce the new structure of ROGEAP to the stakeholders involved and gather their active participation for the success of the project in Nigeria. In specific terms, the workshop participants discussed the state of autonomous solar systems, the institutional and legal framework for the autonomous solar system sector in Nigeria, the activities planned in the context of ROGEAP, the participation of private companies in the electrification of public buildings and infrastructure, and identification of the technical assistance needs of key actors in Nigeria.
Workshop participants included representatives from the Nigerian Ministry of Energy, financial institutions, financial and technical partner institutions, civil society, the private sector and the press. The meeting was opened by Ing. Aliyu D Abubakar, Agricultural Director for Access to Rural and Renewable Energy, who represented the Minister of Energy of Nigeria. It was attended by Mr. Sylla Elhadji, ROGEAP Senior Advisor, who represented Mr. Sediko Douka, ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitization.
Speaking on behalf of the new President of the ECOWAS Commission, HE Omar A. Touray, Principal Advisor to ROGEAP and representative of the Commissioner responsible for Energy, reiterated the main objectives and goals of the project and urged the stakeholders present to support the implementation of the project. in Niger. “The objective of ECOWAS and its partners, through ROGEAP, is to help Member States establish an enabling framework for the establishment of an off-grid solar energy market and expand accessibility through increased participation and financing. from the private sector,” said Mr. Sylla.
Chairing the session on behalf of the supervising minister, the Ag. Director of Rural and Renewable Energy Access at the Nigerian Ministry of Energy recalled that sustainable development in our Member States can only be achieved through adequate energy supply. “Renewable energy is locally available and can be harnessed for power supply. This would minimize dependency on imported fossil fuels and thus improve national energy security, reduce oil import costs and reduce poverty. The idea behind ROGEAP is the provision of solutions that improve the living conditions of our population”, added Engr Abubakar, before formally declaring the workshop open.
There were a number of presentations at the workshop, including on national policies and regulations related to the off-grid power sector, a progress report on electrification, projects and programs on off-grid solar power systems in Nigeria. The participants then divided into two working groups. The first group focused on the topic: “policy, norms, standards and taxation in relation to autonomous solar products, identifying the institutional obstacles that are related to policies and regulations, proposing guidelines for the formulation of norms and standards for solar systems autonomous solar energy. and the introduction of exemption incentives for stand-alone solar products.”
The second group focused on the topic: “Private companies and financial institutions, identifying obstacles to private investment in the off-grid energy sector (stand-alone solar power kits), restrictions on private sector access to financial institutions financial institutions (commercial banks and microfinance institutions) and technical assistance needs”.
At the end of the workshop, the participants made several recommendations: (i) Improve the institutional framework of the Nigerian electricity sector by integrating legal provisions and incentives for off-grid electricity, (ii) introduction of quality standards to protect the off-grid electricity. -grid energy market, (ii) human capital capacity building and support for the development of local industry, and (iv) access to financing for the private sector in the form of reduced interest rates on loans.
As a reminder, ROGEAP's goal is to increase access to sustainable solar energy services for homes, businesses, public hospitals and schools in the 15 ECOWAS Member States and in four other African countries (Mauritania, Central African Republic, Chad and Cameroon) . ). The USD338.7 million project is financed by the World Bank, the Clean Technology Fund and the Netherlands Cooperation (DGIS).
Following the launch in Nigeria, national workshops to launch ROGEAP will be organized in the coming weeks in the other 18 Member States involved in its implementation.
