ECOWAS Leaders Meet,
Take Crucial Decisions
Uche Aneke and Rebecca Muazu, Abuja.
Nigeria
has said she stands ready to work with all sister countries in
West Africa to ensure that the gains of democracy is
consolidated.
Nigeria’s Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan named on Tuesday
as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of
ECOWAS, gave this indication.
At the thirty-seventh summit of the regional group, which is
deliberating on matters relating to peace, security, democracy
and integration, the leaders named Jonathan as Chairman, to
stand in for the Nigerian president who is ill and recuperating.
Acting President Jonathan appreciated the wind of consolidation
of democracy in the region and asked the leaders to redouble
efforts to ensure that greater achievements were recorded.
Democracy on track but,
The Acting Nigerian President said that with the political
developments in Guinea Bissau and Niger Republic posing serious
challenges to democracy, peace and security in the region,
urgent steps had been taken to assist the countries in restoring
constitutional order.
He also called on the member states of ECOWAS to ensure the
implementation of the protocol on free movement of persons,
goods and services and the right of residence and establishment.
Maintain constitutional principles
The outgoing President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr.
Mohammed Ibn Chambas said that leaders in the region should
remain faithful to the high standards set on constitutional
principle of good governance and zero tolerance to
unconstitutional governance.
Dr. Chambas said: ’’Despite progress recorded in the region,
ECOWAS still faced some challenges, but we should remain
vigilant in the pursuit of the consolidation of peace, security
and democracy, as the three areas remained fragile and
susceptible to reversals.’’
This imperative was also echoed by the United Nations, which
described the unconstitutional change of government in the
Republic of Guinea as one of the challenges facing the ECOWAS.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for West
Africa, Ambassador Said Djinnit, said collaboration between
ECOWAS, AU and the UN had been instrumental to the ability to
deal with the critical issues that had befallen the region.
In his words: ’’The major question of unconstitutional
changes of government, especially in Guinea remains one of the
toughest challenges facing West Africa today…The UN in close
partnership with international partners has been working closely
with ECOWAS in its quest for a more integrated, peaceful and
prosperous West Africa.’’
Djinnit observed that the region had recently witnessed emerging
issues with significant impact on some countries, saying such
challenges included floods, persisting crisis of food security,
climate change, drug trafficking, governance and the rule of
law.
He therefore re-affirmed the commitment of the UN to assist in
ensuring that democratic rule was restored in Guinea. He also
said that the UN would assist the Togolese parties in creating
favourable conditions for peaceful and democratic presidential
elections.
With additional report from NAN/Yinka
