ECOWAS names Buhari COVID-19 champion, alerts leaders on challenges posed by pandemic

LEADER of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as the champion that will coordinate the COVID-19 response in the sub-region. 

Presidential spokesman,Femi Adesina, announced the appointment on Twitter.

“ECOWAS leaders at an extraordinary summit held by video conference have appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as Champion that will coordinate the COVID-19 response in the sub-region. All the other Presidents will be available to support President Buhari. The organisation held the summit to discuss ongoing efforts at combating COVID-19 by member states,” Adesina said.

Meanwhile, Buhari has called on fellow ECOWAS leaders to look beyond the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and tap into various opportunities that it presents for the betterment of lives in member states.

“In every challenging situation such as the current one, there are also opportunities. Our region must therefore seek to find those opportunities provided by this gloomy global outlook for its benefit by embarking on the implementation of such critical policies, which before now, will be difficult to accept,” he said.

Buhari also called on his colleagues to intensify collaboration in order to save the region from “this deadly pandemic through sharing our experiences and best practices.” The Nigerian leader also outlined some measures taken by his government in response to the pandemic, among them, the reduction of interest rates on all applicable Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) interventions from 9 to 5 per cent and introduction of a one-year moratorium on CBN intervention facilities; inauguration of Presidential Task Force to coordinate national efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure efficiency and effectiveness in line with the Nigerian Action Plan on Health Security, provision of relief materials including medical and food supplies as well as conditional cash transfers of N20,000 each for poor and vulnerable households, and establishment of more isolation centres and testing facilities to contain the spread of the virus.

Buhari also said unprecedented economic uncertainties, including severe fiscal and foreign exchange constraints, “amid a slowdown in global economic growth that most nations are grappling with, have made it imperative for our sub-region to refocus on accelerating the implementation of our popular vision of ‘ECOWAS of the people’ by adopting dynamic regional policies aimed at providing relief to our citizens.