From Henry Chukwurah, Abuja
Nigeria’s Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has identified the inability of member- states of the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) to add to institutional building blocks and their lack of courage to re-order existing structures as the major factors slowing down integration and development of the sub-region.
Speaking in Abuja, at the opening of the first ordinary session of the ECOWAS Parliament yesterday, Saraki noted that West African states were still far from destination point, while other regional bodies, “including those who we inspired”, have moved faster towards integration.
The senate president, who insisted that the ECOWAS Parliament remained a critical place to start genuine integration, said: “We must have the courage to give the parliament greater authorization and capacity to duly legislate on common areas and provide oversight on certain issues of common interest and interdependency. For as long as we are unable to, or fail to remit to this parliament more powers, the dreams of greater integration will remain a myth.”
He reasoned that the situation could be responsible for inadequate cohesion in the fight against terrorism, cross border crimes and the implementation of approved trade agreements and protocols in the sub-region.
“With greater oversight and authorization, it is possible that we would see greater inroads made in the areas of the enforcement of ECOWAS regional trade agreements and instruments, especially the Common External Tariff Order”, Saraki said.
He spoke of the need to revisit existing protocols and treaties in the sub-region, “in order to create a more virile union that can help us deal with the challenges of the 21st century”, noting that the average citizen was yet to feel meaningfully, the impact of the ECOWAS union beyond free movement of persons and goods.
Saraki noted also that less than adequate has been done to provide the right legal and institutional inter-state frameworks that would guarantee and insulate enterprising citizens from discriminatory practices, anti-competition, human rights abuse and the possibility of host bias in the treatment of conflicts arising from their cross-border enterprise.
President of ECOWAS Court, Justice Maria do Ceu Silva Monteiro, backed the call for greater role for the parliament, saying: “it is necessary to ensure that the perspective of 2020 ECOWAS, of a parliament endowed with legislative powers, is actually a reality and not just confined to the purely advisory role.”
She assured that the sub-regional court would not fail to maintain excellent levels of inter-institutional relationship and continue to deliver on its mission with impartiality and independence in favour of uncompromising defense of human rights and the legal instruments establishing the organization.
Earlier, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Moustapha Cisse Lo, called for vigilance and cooperation among member-states to enable them overcome terrorism in the sub-region.
“We must instill democratic and national principles even deeper into the consciousness of West African citizens and these principles must guide the actions of our politicians – in the ruling party and the opposition. The same holds true when it comes to upholding strict respect of human and people’s rights, particularly in a context where the risk of widespread suspicion may lead to unfortunate slippages”, he said.