Professor Ebenezer Owusu (right) presenting the project document to the President of ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Kadre Desire Ouedraogo(left)
The Provost of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, has called on the President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E. Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, to formally present the Grant Agreement Document of the Monitoring for Environment and Security in Africa (MESA) Project. The meeting took place at the ECOWAS Headquarters in Abuja.
The MESA project is a pan-African programme that utilizes Earth Observation (EO) data for developing products and services to increase the information, management, decision-making and planning capacity of African countries. It is being implemented through 7 Regional Implementation Centres (RICs), including the ECOWAS Coastal and Marine Resources Management Centre based at the University of Ghana.
The ECOWAS President expressed appreciation to the University of Ghana for being the centre of choice to host the MESA project for the region. He reiterated the support of ECOWAS to ensure the success of the Project.
On his part Prof. Owusu expressed the commitment of University of Ghana in ensuring that the objectives of the projects are realised. He noted that the project will go a long way to guarantee food security in the region. He also indicated that the University of Ghana has the requisite capacity to contribute to the follow-up GMES-Africa programme in coastal and marine area services.
Present at the short ceremony were Dr. Lapodini Marc Atouga, ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Dr. Jonhson Boanuh, ECOWAS Director for Environment, Mr. Adama Alhassane Diallo, Director General of ACMAD, and Mr. Dogbeda Azumah, Project Assistant, ECOWAS Marine Centre.
The ECOWAS Marine Centre is being supported with 1.92 million Euros to implement the project over 3 years (2014 – 2016). The beneficiary countries are Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
From left to right: Dr. Johnson Boanuh, Dr. Lapodini Marc Atouga, H.E.Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, Prof. Ebenezer Owusu and Mr. Adama Alhassane Diallo
