Senegal seeks  Nigeria’s assistance in energy sector

The Senegalese Petroleum Minister, Mansour Elimane Kane, has sought for the assistance of Nigeria in developing the country’s energy sector specifically petroleum.
Kane said in Dakar, after a closed door meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, who was on a working visit to Senegal.
“I am glad to have my brother the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, to pay a visit the Ministry of Petroleum Senegal.
“As you know we just discovered a lot of oil and gas and we would want to take advantage of experience of Nigeria.
“I think we have to work with our counterpart in Nigeria  so also with the ministry of foreign Affairs to learn how to avoid some mistake,” he said
He said Senegal would want to be like Equatorial Guinea that came to learn from Nigeria when they discovered their oil and gas and became a big time player in the sector in Africa.
“What we want to do is to learn from our brother Nigeria, at the state level and also at the private sector level, local content is very important.
“We know that there are some Nigerian companies already that have experience and will want to  have joint venture with us, to work with Senegalese companies  to help us to develop the sector,” he said.
He said that the country would send a delegation to visit Nigeria immediately after the election
Onyeama in his remarks expressed the readiness of Nigeria to assist Senegal to develop the her petroleum sector
“Nigeria has a lot of experience in the sector to share with Senegal.
“And first thing I will do when I get back to Nigeria is to get in touch with the petroleum Minister of state for the two of them to work together.
“And of course at the larger framework of Senegal-Nigeria cooperation, we have joint commission which we hope to revitalise.
“So petroleum will be part of that will be part of that commission, there will be this constant bilateral cooperation of different sectors,” he said.
He cautioned that Petroleum could be a blessing and at the same time a curse.
Onyeama stressed that it was necessary for Senegal to put in place from the very beginning the strategies that  will make it a blessing and not a curse