The Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS Parliament) will commence its First Ordinary Session for the year, from tomorrow Thursday, 10th of May to Wednesday, 30th of May 2018, at the Seat of Parliament in Abuja.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the Communications Division of the ECOWAS Parliament made available to BusinessDay, noted that the 21-day session will feature the presentation on the ‘Status of the Community’ by the President of ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, as provided for in Article 32 of the Supplementary Act Relating to the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament.
Additionally, in compliance with Article 31 of the Supplementary Act, the President of the Commission will present the Community Strategic Plan to the Parliament while sitting in Plenary, the statement added.
Amongst other things, the Strategic Plan to be presented to Members of Parliament for considerations revolves around promotion of social and human development; promoting sound business environment; support and finance of infrastructure, industrialization, agriculture and the economy; improved implementation of the Community Levy; prudent resource management, to mention a few.
Other programmes scheduled to feature in the session includes the traditional presentation of the Country Reports by each delegation of Member States, of progress made in the implementation of the Community integration agenda, the statement said.
Furthermore, on the sidelines of the Session, there would also be a seminar on the theme – ‘Strengthening the Participation and Representation of ECOWAS Gender Policy in Democracy and Good Governance’, jointly organized by Parliament, the Social Affairs Department of the ECOWAS Commission and ECOWAS Female Parliamentarians Association (ECOFEPA), in collaboration with Danish International Developmental Agency (DANIDA) and UN women. The objective of this ECOFEPA jointly organized seminar is to evaluate the political participation of women within ECOWAS region.
On the other hand, Parliament and the National Institute for Legislative and Development Studies (NILDS) will co-organize a second seminar themed ‘Challenges and Perspectives of the ECOWAS Single Currency’.
The Chairman of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Statutory Officers of Community Institutions, among other dignitaries are expected to be present at the opening ceremony.
The convening of the 2018 First Ordinary Session is in line with the stipulations of Article 27 of the Supplementary Act of the Parliament which provides that the ‘Parliament shall meet twice a year in Ordinary Session’.
