By Charles Pemu 
The European Union (EU) has formally launched a new €12 million regional initiative aimed at substantially boosting the safety, security, and operational performance of major seaports across West and Central Africa.
The four-year project, titled SCOPE Africa Securing Corridors, Ports and Exchanges in Western and Central Africa—was officially unveiled in Lomé, Togo. The launch comes as African nations intensify efforts to enhance port resilience, significantly improve crisis-response capacity, and expand regional cooperation in maritime security.
The SCOPE Africa project will strategically focus its resources on selected ports situated along priority land and sea corridors, which have been jointly identified by the African Union, various regional bodies, and the EU’s comprehensive Global Gateway Strategy.
Key ports set to benefit from the initiative include:
- Nigeria: Lagos
- Togo: Lomé
- Cameroon: Douala and Kribi
- Côte d’Ivoire: Abidjan
- Senegal: Dakar
- Gabon: Libreville
- Republic of Congo: Pointe-Noire
- Liberia: Monrovia
- Cape Verde: Praia
Funded by the European Union and implemented by Expertise France and Enabel, the SCOPE Africa programme is described by its organisers as a major step toward creating safer, more competitive, and more efficient maritime trade hubs across the region.
Officials highlighted that the programme’s core focus will be on strengthening compliance with international maritime standards, improving emergency response systems, enhancing professional skills and training for port workers, boosting cooperation among regional ports, and consolidating platforms for regional information sharing. A significant step toward advancing professionalisation in the maritime sector was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Regional Maritime University in Accra.
The launch seminar drew officials from all beneficiary countries, port authorities, relevant regional organisations, and private-sector partners, all of whom underscored the critical importance of the initiative for Africa’s maritime economy and global trade links.
The SCOPE Africa launch follows closely on the heels of a much larger EU commitment to the continent’s energy transition. Just a few months prior, the EU unveiled a massive €545 million package designed to scale up renewable energy investment across Africa.
That clean energy initiative, part of the EU and Team Europe’s ongoing efforts, aims to expand electrification, modernise power grids, and improve access to renewable energy across the continent. Targeted investments under the package included a major allocation of €359.4 million for high-voltage power in Côte d’Ivoire to boost regional energy distribution, €59.1 million for rural electrification in Cameroon, and €45.5 million to increase access to affordable renewable energy in Somalia, among other allocations across nine African countries.