All is set for the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) Parliament’s 2022 First Ordinary Session.
The session in the Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja is set to host the one hundred and fifteen (115) Members of the Community Parliament.
In a statement from the Communication Division of the Parliament quotes the legislative agenda as set on its draft Order Paper that the Session which will open on 9 June 2022, is scheduled to close on 2 July 2022.
According to the statement, the session was in line with Article 27 of the Supplementary Act A/SA.1/1/16 relating to the Enhancement of Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.
It noted that, during the session, 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.
Adding that one of the key highlights of the First Ordinary Session is the presentation of the State of the Community report by the President of the ECOWAS Commission, His Excellency, Jean Claude Kassi Brou.
This according to the statement was 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 statement said presentation by the President of the Commission will provide an opportunity for Members of Parliament, as representatives of the people, to track and oversight the implementation of community programmes which remains an important process within the institutional functioning of ECOWAS.
The statement further said, an interactive session is planned with the ECOWAS Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, on the main initiatives of the departments within its technical competence.
The statement also pointed other items on the agenda of the session to be Parliamentary workshops where public, private and the organized Civil Society are expected to share their concerns and challenges, as well as present and explain to regional Members of Parliament, their missions, achievements.
The statement said, 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.
As a result, Nigeria has 35 of the 115 seats, followed by Ghana with eight seats.
Côte d’Ivoire has seven, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal are with six seats each while Benin, Cape Verde, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo have five seats each.
