“The Energy Information System of the Community of West African States (SIE-CEDEAO), at the service of enlightened governance of the energy sector”, is the theme at the heart of the series of workshops held on November 30, 2022 in Abuja, Nigeria, December 06, 2022 in Niamey, Niger and December 09, 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. These workshops were organised by the ECOWAS Commission through the Energy Sector Governance Improvement Project (AGoSE-AO), funded by the European Union.
During the Abuja workshop, the Director General of the Nigerian Energy Commission, Prof. Eli Jidere Bala recalled that energy statistics serve as inputs for the development, operation and maintenance of the Energy Information System (SIE), to which researchers, development partners, individuals and organisations will have access to plan, make informed decisions and take effective measures in the management of energy supply, use and costs.
In Niamey, the Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Petroleum, Energy and Renewable Energies of Niger, Mr. Salifou YAGI HAKIMI indicated that the SIE-CEDEAO tool will allow, in the long term, all Member States to implement structured, coherent energy policies articulated around well-identified priorities.
During the Abidjan stage, the representative of the Director General of Energy of Côte D’Ivoire, Mr. Pacôme N’Guessan N’Cho, Director of Rural Electrification, recalled, on behalf of Mr. CISSE Sabati, that in the difficulties of people’ access to energy services and the various socio-economic issues that our countries must face, it appeared necessary and Its sustainability, for the benefit of current and future generations.
In each of the countries travelled during this mission, the Director of Energy and Mines of ECOWAS, Mr Bayaornibè DABIRE or his representative, stressed that a credible, coherent, reliable and regularly updated energy information system will allow ECOWAS to fulfil its mission of coordinating and harmonising the policies and programs of the Member States in the field of energy.
He added that this system provides data and information for better planning, design and monitoring of energy sector strategies and policies. The system has a web platform that provides, among other things, information on (1) the energy situation in the region and in the Member States, (2) socio-economic and sustainable development indicators, (3) carbon dioxide emission indicators, (4) policies and regulations and (5) energy infrastructure. He was delighted that this system is now operational, and can be consulted by both decision-makers and the general public. Finally, he urged countries to make it a strategic tool in planning their development.
At the end of the work, the Energy and Mines Directorate of the ECOWAS Commission reassured national actors in Nigeria, Niger and Côte d’Ivoire that everything will be done to ensure the sustainability of this important decision support tool but also to help States improve the collection processes and the quality of statistics.
As a reminder, SIE-CEDEAO is made possible thanks to technical assistance through the AGOSE-AO (Improving the Governance of the Energy Sector in West Africa) program. This program was designed within the framework of a cooperation agreement between the ECOWAS Commission and the Commission of the European Union (EU) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF). Technical assistance is implemented by NTU International A/S.
The overall objective of the AGoSE-AO program is to “contribute to poverty reduction through increased regional integration in the energy sector in West Africa”. The specific objective is to provide support to ECOWAS specialised institutions (EEEOA, ARREC and CEREEC) as well as to UEMOA in the implementation of activities related to improving the governance of the energy sector.
