Abuja, 16th September 2019. The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in collaboration with the European Union (EU) held the second Steering Committee meeting for Improving the Governance of the Energy Sector of ECOWAS Member States – AGoSE- AO with the aim of harmonising 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.

The meeting which held on 16th September 2019 in Abuja, Nigeria saw participants review the progress report of the AGoSE programme, its work plan and validate the recommendations of its technical assistance team in order to ensure the seamless execution of the programme.

The ECOWAS Commission’s Commissioner for Energy and Mines, Sediko Douka, while opening the meeting stated that, the meeting will give clear guidance to the technical team implementing the program to enable the 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 of the meeting, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Kurt Cornelis 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 programme was launch in May 2018 and is being funded by the 11th European Development fund to the tune of 32million euros.

Its Steering Committee comprises of representatives from the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority, ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, the West African Power Pool, the West African Economic Monetary Union, the German Development Agency (GIZ), Luxemburg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev), the Energy Charter Secretariat and NTU International.