Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, Abuja is set to host the 115 Members of the Economic Community of West African States’ Parliament, In line with Article 27 of the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/1/16 relating to the Enhancement of Powers of the Parliament.
According to the legislative agenda set on its draft Order Paper, the session which will open on 9th June 2022, is scheduled to close on 2nd July 2022.
This was contained in a press statement made available to the press by ECOWAS.
According to the statement, the Parliament will deliberate on the draft community regulations emanating from the ECOWAS Commission, examine Community strategies targeted at improving governance, address issues of unconstitutional change of government and proffer solutions towards democratic consolidation in the sub-region, during this session.
The presentation of the State of the Community report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency, Jean Claude Kassi Brou, will be one of the key highlights of this First Ordinary Session.
This is in accordance with Article 32 of the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of Parliament, which stipulates that: “At each ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament, the President of the Commission shall present a general report on the state of implementation of the Community’s work programme”.
The President’s Presentation will provide an opportunity for Members of Parliament to track and oversee the implementation of community programmes.
Meanwhile, an interactive session is also planned with the ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, on the main initiatives of the departments within its technical competence.
Also on the agenda of the session are Parliamentary workshops where public, private and the organized Civil Society are expected to share their concerns, challenges, as well as present and explain to regional Members of Parliament, their missions and achievements.
The ECOWAS Parliament which is a Representative Assembly of the peoples of the Community has a statutory and guaranteed minimum of (5) seats for each of the 15 Member States, while the remaining forty seats are distributed in proportion to the population of each country.
Consequently, Nigeria has 35 of the 115 seats, followed by Ghana with eight seats. Others are Côte d’Ivoire seven Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal with six seats each. The other Member States namely, Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo have five seats each.