A 2-day capacity building for journalists from ECOWAS Member States opens in Dakar. The training which was organized by the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) was declared open by the Senegalese Minister of Energy and Renewable Energy Development, Mr. Thierno Alassane Sall, who used the opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the Senegalese government towards regional integration and development under the leadership of its President, His Excellency, Mr. Macky Sall.

Mr. Sall who was represented by Mr. Mor Ndiaye Mbaye, Director at the Ministry of Energy, lamented the energy deficiency of the region which he said to a large extent affects the region’s economy, necessitating the need for journalists to become proactive in reporting issue around renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The Minister urged the participants, comprising journalists from eight ECOWAS member countries namely, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, to help sensitize the community citizens on renewable energy and related issues so as motivate responsible behavioural responses from the Community citizens.

In his remarks, the Executive Director of ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), Mr. Mahama Kappiah highlighted the important role renewable energy efficiency technologies and services play in West Africa’s energy agenda which explains the reason for commending the European Union-ECOWAS collaboration for an energy facility project that will provide access to electricity services in forty villages with solar mini-grids in the southeast of Senegal over the next four years.

Welcoming participants to the Workshop, the ECOWAS Commission’s Director of Communication, Mrs. Sandra Oulate Fattoh Elleingand similarly commended media involvement in the sensitization of the Community citizens on ECOWAS activities, which she said will help to deepen the regional integration process.

Additionally, Mrs. Oulate F. Elleingand urged participants to take advantage of the robust content of the workshop to enrich themselves for greater service of the Community.

The workshop will end on Thursday, after a facility visit to a renewable energy site in Diamniadio, on the outskirt of Dakar.