ECOWAS was formed to provide regional economic cooperation, but has since evolved to include political and military cooperation, as well. The union was established on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, with its stated mission to promote economic integration across the region.
ECOWAS is meant to be a region governed in accordance with the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance. The Vision of ECOWAS is include to create a borderless region where the population has access to its abundant resources and is able to exploit same through the creation of opportunities under a sustainable environment.
The body of ECOWAS is made up of Institutions and Specialised Agencies. The Institutions comprise: The Authority of Heads of States and Government, The Commission, The Community Parliament, The Community Court of Justice, Council of Ministers, Specialized Technical Committees as well as the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID).
The 64th Ordinary session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of States and Government held in Abuja Nigeria on December 10, 2023 recorded high level attendance ranging from heads of states of west African region to foreign delegates and international partnering organizations.
Also in attendance was the current chairman of the authority of Heads of states and Government, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, president and commander in chief, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Who was elected chairman of the Authority during the 63rd Ordinary Session of the authority of Heads of States on July 9th, 2023 held in Guinea Bissau.
On this piece, we shall be focusing on the full speech of H.E. Dr. Omar Alieu TOURAY, president ECOWAS Commission during the 64th ordinary Session in Abuja, Nigeria:
Protocol
1.On behalf of the Management and Staff of ECOWAS Institutions, I welcome you to the 64th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
I salute His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu President and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Chair of the ECOWAS Authority for his leadership and commitment. In the same vein we
2.I remain appreciative to the Government and the people of Nigeria for their legendary hospitality and generosity.
3.Excellencies, this is the 4th full Summit you have had in a space of six months. If the frequency of the summits point to challenges in the region, it is also indicative of your resilience and commitment to rise up to those challenges as leaders who remain faithful to the service of our people.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
4.In the last few days, the Mediation and Security Council and the Council of Ministers met to deliberate on several issues concerning the Community.
5.The reports of these sessions show the formidable nature of the challenges the region faces. But they also show hope. That hope is epitomised by sound socio-economic policies that you our leaders have put in place across the region and the general commitment to democracy as well as peace and security. The peaceful elections that ECOWAS has supported in Nigeria, Guinea Bissau Sierra Leone and Liberia are to be situated in this context.
6.These elections and those before it have also shattered the narrative that political change in Africa is possible only through military coup. I
- In this regard, allow me to reiterate our congratulation to the people and the Government of Liberia for the peaceful conduct of the 2023 Presidential and Legislative Elections.
8.Indeed ECOWAS congratulates Ambassador Joseph Boakai on his election as President of Liberia and salutes President George Weah for graciously accepting the results of the elections.
9.In the same vein, I wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to President Maky Sall of Senegal, who has decided not to run for another term. President decision not to run for another term , and the concession by President Weah all disprove the narrative that political change in Africa is possible only
10.In Sierra Leone , we were reassured by the signature of the Agreement for National Unity between the Government and the opposition All-Peoples Congress (APC) which ended the political impasse in the country.
Your Excellencies,
11.These positive developments have been albeit overshadowed by undesirable disturbances in the region, such as the attempted coups d’état in Niger, Sierra Leone and the recent violence in Guinea Bissau. We have maintained our firm stance on zero-tolerance to unconstitutional change of Government in our Community. Despite pressures from different quarters, we have kept up with your decision on the Republic of Niger and engaged on the terms that you set out for us. The military authorities have unfortunately shown little remorse as they hold onto their untenable positions, holding not only President Bazoum, his family, and members of his government hostage, but also the people of Niger. We are aware of the dire humanitarian situation in Niger Republic. And in line with the provisions of our community texts, we granted humanitarian access to medical and humanitarian goods for the sake of the people, but report from humanitarian agencies show that the military authorities have been interfering with humanitarian access.
Your Excellences,
12.As we monitor the implementation of the Sanctions, we noted with satisfaction the courage and determination of your governments to effectively apply the sanctions. We note that some political actors and groups in the region have been misrepresenting issues around the sanctions to score cheap political points. Your firm and unambiguous commitment to the principles and values of our community is therefore salutary.
13. We are also grateful to our partners, the United Nations, African Union, European Union, the United States, many financial institutions, and others for standing by our decision on the sanctions and for their support.
14.Despite the successful application of the sanctions, we observed with concern some breaches of the sanctions, including massive movement of physical cash by individuals across borders, high volume of transit goods through Burkina Faso to reach the territory of Niger and smuggling through porous borders and inland water ways.
Your Excellences,
15.Regarding the countries under transition, after a moment of some progress such as the referendum on a new Constitution in Mali, the inauguration of some consultative committees and organs, we have noticed a near pause in the implementation of the agreed transition timetables for some time now. Moreover, since the decisions of the Extraordinary Session of the Authority in Addis Ababa in February, the transition authorities have united in their stance to cease any cooperation with ECOWAS on the implementation of the agreed timetables. Despite many requests for the mediators and special envoy on terrorism to visit the countries, there was no positive response, allegedly on account of the sanctions imposed on the heads of transitions and their foreign ministers.
Your Excellencies,
16.During this Session, you will receive full briefing on the political and security situation in the regions as well as reports and briefings on the economic and monetary integration of our Community.
17.Let me acknowledge the continued support of our development partners with whom in recent times we signed several financing agreements, including for example the 7 simplified financial agreements with the European Union, covering the areas of trade, migration, energy, and agriculture, amounting to 212.5 Euros from the envelope of 11.6 billion Euros allocated to West Africa within the framework of the Neighborhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument –2021-2027.
18.Your Excellencies,
Political stability, peace and security remain critical for our region. The flow of foreign capital and intra-regional trade and investment have been affected by the risk rating of our region. We are challenged to improve the business environment in our community to take advantage of the growing interests of investors in our community. We have made the development of regional infrastructure and business-friendly policies a cornerstone of our integrate the region. It is in this context that on 17th November 2023, we commissioned the International Coordination Centre of the West African Power Pool in Abomey-Calavi in Benin Republic, which now enables trade in electricity across our region. The unified electricity market achieved through this project will improve access to electricity by areas of low generation from areas with high supply. With the exception of Cabo Verde, all the Member States of ECOWAS are connected to the system, which makes the sale and purchase of electricity among them possible. We are grateful to the European Union for the support of 35million Euros towards the realization of this project.
Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
19.Allow me to highlight the situation of the Community Levy, which is the lifeline of the community institutions and integration programmes. As you would recall, a levy of 0.5% on imports from outside the Community is being collected by Member States on behalf of ECOWAS. However, for some time now access to these funds have been a challenge. This has led to low resource mobilization. The situation is more critical now that our Member States under sanctions have stopped remitting the levy. As the financial situation gets more difficult, the tasks for ECOWAS are growing.
20.I have been compelled to bring this matter to your attention because we have the community’s action plan against terrorism to implement; peacekeeping missions to sustain; vital integration programmes to finance, transitions in member states under military rule to support, and various socio-economic and humanitarian problems to tackle. I am confident that your Excellences will give full support to our efforts to access funds that the national customs authorities have collected on behalf of the Community.
I thank you for your attention.
