ECOWAS Ready to ‘Fully Support’ Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline

The Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project has received the “full backing” of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, which has stated its commitment to the project.

Sediko Douka, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy, and Digitalization, lavished praise on the Nigerian and Moroccan project initiative, “saluting” the two nations for “having had this vision of the future which will definitively establish the energy independence of our region and the strengthening of South-South cooperation.”

The ECOWAS executive also stated that the steering committee and technical committee of the project, among other statutory bodies, will “meet shortly for its implementation,” highlighting the fact that the project is timely given the lack of energy production infrastructure in the ECOWAS region.

With a high pricing of around 0.24 USD/kWh and a poor access rate of 53%, barely 60% of the energy demand in the country is met, according to Douka.

A day after King Mohammed VI’s speech honoring the 47th anniversary of the Green March, Douka delivered his remarks.

The monarch reaffirmed Morocco’s support for the initiative during his speech, which will allow Africa to produce energy independently and self-sufficiently.

The King emphasized that the project would secure peace for African economic integration and for co-development, saying, “I want this to be a strategic initiative that benefits all of West Africa — an area that is home to more than 440 million people.”

The Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline, according to Douka, will allow member states that produce natural gas to profit from it to produce energy and the use of gas for domestic reasons, echoing the King’s support for the project.

In September, the ECOWAS Commission inked an agreement with Nigeria’s National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) and Morocco’s National office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONYUM).

The agreement is a component of the pipeline’s construction architecture, mobilizing resources to make the project’s development and execution possible as a single effort.

With a goal of helping more than 340 million people, the $25 billion project along the Atlantic coast will stretch 5,600 kilometers across 11 nations.

At a time when the continent may be trying to diversify its energy supplies, Morocco will host 1,672 kilometers of the pipeline that connects it to Europe through Spain.