The Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has restated Nigeria’s earlier commitment to construct a new and permanent headquarters for the Community Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital.
According to President Buhari, the vision of the founding fathers of ECOWAS was to have a West Africa that is integrated economically with harmonized policies and enjoys the free movement of persons, goods and services, as well as the seamless right to the establishment.
The Buhari stated this while addressing regional legislators in Abuja, stressing that ECOWAS must continue to strive harder to attain those objectives.
His words: “Our pledge to construct a new permanent headquarters for this Parliament remains as irrevocable and strong as ever. I had hoped for the completion and formal commissioning of the project before leaving office. The desire to create an ECOWAS complex, housing the Commission, the Parliament and the Court all in one arena, led to the delay. I have been informed that harmonization in drawings and other technicalities have been concluded and that the ground-breaking ceremony of the ECOWAS Commission’s headquarters to be constructed by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China has been scheduled to take place on 5th December 2022”.
He further stated, “Let us take advantage of existing mechanisms and our enterprising population to turn our dreams into reality. We have the capacity to do so. Let us collaborate more and remove our outdated physical and psychological boundaries and other colonially-inspired differences so our region can fully attain its full potential”.
President Buhari applauded the Speaker for his commitment and sacrifice he is making towards promoting regional integration and strengthening democracy and good governance in West Africa.
He said he is aware of the progress that has been made by the ECOWAS Parliament since the inception of the 5th Legislature, in March 2020.
He concluded that the Parliament’s contributions to the efficient and effective implementation of the objectives and policies of the Community, including the strengthening of representative democracy, have been outstanding.
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