By: Dawda Baldeh
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has on Wednesday 23rd February 2022 engaged media practitioners on the nexus between the energy sector and other sectors. The event which aimed at capacitating pressmen to better inform the public about energy-related matters took place at a local hotel in Kololi. The event was attended by senior officials from MoPE, UNIDO, and the media.
At the event, various speakers highlighted the importance of energy in the socio-economic development of the country. Ms. Oulay Camara, Deputy Permanent Secretary, MoPE described the ministry’s interaction with media practitioners as significant noting that the media play a significant role in disseminating information to the public.
She expressed gratitude to the Global Environment Facility and United Nations Industrial Development Organization for supporting the program.
“Energy is needed in every sector of our economies to support production, service delivery and comfortable living in our homes. Countries all over the world make concerted efforts to provide adequate, reliable and affordable energy services for the development of their economies,” she said.
Ms. Camara said energy is a key component in people’s day to day activities. Noting that its unavailability can hinder development.
She emphasized that the platform is an avenue for stakeholders to discuss the interlinkages between energy and other sectors or issues to better understand the realities of energy service provision.
According to her, they embarked on the activity to monitor, discuss, analyze, understand and advise on the energy nexus issues and it was deemed prudent to partner with the media, to effectively disseminate the work of the platform to the public.
She added that for the media to properly on energy matters is significant noting that the platform will help journalists to adequately inform society about the relevant pertinent energy nexus issues.
Madam Khadidiatou Diallo, UNIDO Project Coordinator says the workshop is significant as it will give media practitioners the chance to interact with senior officials from the petroleum ministry and ask key questions relating to the ministry.
She told journalists that the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy is implementing the component on the establishment of a nexus platform to promote strong synergies between the energy sector and other sectors.
According to her, it’s meant to integrate energy issues more systematically through a nexus approach throughout different sectors. Given the crucial role energy plays in productive sectors, she said it is important to build the capacity of media practitioners on energy-related issues.
“This will help remove communication barriers that hinder the widespread promotion of sustainable energy solutions and foster collaboration and a better understanding of energy and interrelated topics,” she concluded.
The objectives of the workshop were not only to enhance media practitioners’ understanding of energy nexus issues and sustainable energy solutions but also to build their capacity to better play their role in advocacy and awareness creation through information dissemination.
