By Fatou Sanneh
The Chairman of the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) Koc couTossou has announced that the second phase of the regional elec tricity market, which aims to cover supply connections from Nigeria to The Gambia will soon be launched. The Chairman was speaking to the press after a delegation he was part of, led by the Energy Minister of the Gambia, met with President Adama Barrow at State House.
The visit by the ERERA delegation to the presidency was part of events marking the 7th ERERA Forum held in Banjul from 7th to 10th November 2022, and it accorded them the opportunity to brief the President on some of the landmark acheievements and progress registered in the region. Mr KoccouTossou thanked PURA and the Government of The Gambia for the level of commitment and fraternal hospitality accorded them throughout their stay in The Gambia. In an interview right after the close-door meeting with the President, the Minister of Energy of Guinea Bissau, Paquena Augusto also thanked The Gambia Government and its people for successfully hosting the ERERA and informed that the meeting at the presidency highlighted key resolutions made at the just concluded Banjul Forum with a view to ensuring a well-regulated, stable and reliable electricity supply in the region.
He went on to express delight over the experiences shared and networking among the regional electricity regulators, operators and financiers.
Mr Paquena Augusto also enjoined Member States to harness the knowl edge and experiences shared for im- proved cooperation and partnerships to deal with the electricity challenges in the ECOWAS region.
The Minister of Energy of The Gambia, Abdoulie Jobe said the President was quite pleased with The Gambia’s hosting of the 7th ERERA Forum as it would unify and strengthen the already existing cordial partnership and cooperation among ECOWAS Member States. “The President believes that electric ity should be available, affordable and reliable for public consumption”.
Minister Jobe expressed optimism that such regional convergence would go a long way towards addressing the energy insecurity in the sub-region. For his part, the director General of PURA, Mr Yusupha M. Jobe de- scribed the just concluded regional forum as a huge success.
He thanked all stakeholders, espe- cially the Government of The Gambia for its support and representation at the forum.
The forum delegates commended The Gambia for a successful and well organised regional electricity forum and called for strengthening the long-standing bond already estab lished among regulators in the region. At the end of the event, Niger was identified to host the next ERERA
forum.
The delegation comprised the Minister of Petroleum and Energy of The Gambia, Hon. AbdoulieJobe; the Minister of Energy of Guinea -Bissau, Hon. Augusto Paquena; the Chair- man of ERERA, Mr. KoccouTossou; the Director General of PURA, Mr. Yusupha M. Jobe; Legal Expert of ERERA, Mr. Oumar Bangoura and the Director of Petroleum, Water and Energy of PURA, Mr. Momodou Lamin Sompo Ceesay.
