Nigeria, Abuja, 25^TH August 2022 - ECREEE Executive Director, Jean Francis Sempore makes courtesy visit to the Nigerian Minister of Power ahead of the 7^TH Edition of the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum 2022 (ESEF 2022) scheduled to take place in Abuja in October.

The New Executive Director of the ECOWAS Center for Renewable and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) Jean Francis Sempore recently paid a courtesy call on the Nigerian Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu in Abuja. The purpose of visit was to brief the Honorable minister of the state of preparedness for the 7^th edition of the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF 2022) which will be hosted by Nigeria from the 31 October - 01 November 2022. The theme for this year’s forum is Achieving Sustainable Energy Targets in the ECOWAS Region: Moving from Resilience to Transition. The forum will be held at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja, Nigeria under the high patronage of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Muhammadu Buhari.

During the meeting with Minister Aliyu, a Program Officer at ECREEE, Hyacinth Elayo informed him that ECREEE is a specialized agency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He further told him that ECREEE instituted the ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Forum (ESEF) in 2016 to support the investment and policy initiatives of member states in the regional renewable energy sector.  Mr. Elayo also informed the minister that since its inception the forum has proven to be the largest sustainable energy gathering in the West African region noting that ESEF raises awareness and has been a vehicle for collaboration and transformative progress towards the energy targets of the ECOWAS region. He said ECREEE has succeeded in coming this far thanks to the collaborations from partners and donor agencies around the world.

In reply, the Nigerian Minister of Power, Abubakar Aliyu thanked ECREEE ED and delegation for the courtesy call to brief him about the state of preparedness for ESEF-2022 of which he said Nigeria is proud to host. He commended the New ED and his team for working hard and in collaboration with other international organizations to achieve this success story in renewable energy for ECOWAS citizens.   Minister Aliyu told the delegation that Nigeria as a country is also collaborating with other ECOWAS member countries in the region to harness its energy resources through the West African Power Pool and the West African Gas Pipeline amongst other projects.

Minister Aliyu assured Executive Director, Sempore, of Nigeria’s support to ECREEE and to make ESEF 2022 a successful event.