Business

Power Sector: AFDB Approves $2m Reforms for ECOWAS

The African Development Fund (AfDB) has approved a technical assistance grant of two million dollars to fund research that would contribute to electricity reforms for ECOWAS.

This is contained in a statement from the Communication and External Relations Department of the AfDB.

However, the fund was approved by the bank’s Board of Directors on June 24.

According to the statement, the grant from the African Development Fund, the concessional window of the AfDB Bank Group will go to the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority.

The ultimate objective is to stimulate cross-border electricity trade and improve energy access in the 15 countries in the region.

Mr. Solomon Sarpong, Project team leader at the AfDB said the project would facilitate regional electricity trade and help improve access to electricity.

“It will address major causes of fragility, such as infrastructure bottlenecks, youth unemployment, environmental challenges, gender inequalities, and regional development imbalances,” Sarpong said.

The project has five components.

The first involves selecting electricity regulatory principles and key performance indicators from the AfDB’s flagship Electricity Regulatory Index for Africa report, to be adopted by the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority.

The project would build capacity in member countries for collecting and reporting on these indicators on a common platform.

The second component would involve conducting a study in order to update a comparative analysis of electricity tariffs and their underlying drivers across the electricity value chain of ECOWAS.

The third involves developing a centralised database management system that would provide a platform for digitally collecting relevant energy information from member countries, storing, and disseminating them on a common digital platform.

The fourth component would assess and identify project bottlenecks and risks in ECOWAS member countries.

It would also recommend a coherent approach to progressively address ground-level barriers to investment in the power sector in pre- and post-establishment phases of the regional electricity market.

The final component focuses on programme management and capacity building, which would be co-financed with the Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority.

All components of the project would include gender-disaggregated data.

Established on May 28, 1975 via the Treaty of Lagos, ECOWAS is a regional organisation that promotes economic integration in the constituting countries. ECOWAS consists of 15 countries.

The countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

ECOWAS has an estimated population of 360 million people.

OAdmiN

Recent Posts

Ford Trims Workforce: 4,000 Jobs to Go in Europe

US car giant Ford on Wednesday announced 4,000 more job cuts in Europe, mostly in…

24 hours ago

Tinubu Dissolves UNIZIK Council, Sacks VC, Registrar, Otukpo Pro-Chancellor

  President Bola Tinubu has approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe…

24 hours ago

Ekiti Workers to Earn N70,000 Minimum Wage as Govt Signs MoU with Unions

  The Ekiti State Government has reached an agreement with labour leaders in the state,…

1 day ago

N610bn Constituency Projects Under ICPC Scrutiny in 21 States, FCT

  The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has initiated the seventh…

1 day ago

Iraq Undertakes Historic Census After 40-Year Gap

Iraq is holding its first nationwide census in nearly four decades this week, a long-awaited…

1 day ago

Relief as Rep ‘Lafi’ Empowers 300 Constituents Through Skill Acquisition Programme

  Over 300 constituents of Akinyele/Lagelu Federal Constituency in Oyo State benefitted from a skill…

2 days ago