.jpg)
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb Maitama Tuggar on Monday unveiled ECOWAS Commission's success story under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu disclosing that the President as Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS, including the surviving founding father of ECOWAS will grace the 50th anniversary celebrations slated for May, 28th in Lagos where the Commission was birthed 50 years ago.
The minister stated this on Monday during a press conference to explain the rational for the celebration in Lagos, achievements of ECOWAS and details of expected activities in Abuja, stressing that one of the hallmarks of the celebrations will be the revalidation of the commitment that the member countries have to ECOWAS after 50 years.
He said to ensure the success of the event, the program committee chaired by the Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, which Bianca Ojukwu, and the subcommittees have been working. been preparing, having a series of meetings.
"Mr. President, by virtue of being the chairman of the authority of heads of state and government of the ECOWAS, will be present. And so will other leaders from the countries and the states, that constitute ECOWAS. And of course, the event is in two parts.
One, first and foremost, to take place at the National Institute of International Affairs, which is where ECOWAS itself was born. And one of the august participants will be the only surviving founding leader, founding head of state of ECOWAS in the person of the former head of state, General Yakub Gowon , will be present.
"And thereafter, after the first phase, the second phase will take place in Eko Hotel and Suites. And essentially, it's an exercise for the revalidation of the commitment that the member countries have to ECOWAS after 50 years. Secondly, to showcase the achievements of ECOWAS.
Because unfortunately, we have been distracted in recent times by the exit of three member countries. So more attention is paid to that than to some of the remarkable achievements of ECOWAS.."
The minister highlighted the ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme,; Abidjan-Lagos Road Corridor; Abidjan-Dakar Corridor; the common external tariff scheme as well as the ongoing African Atlantic Pipeline project meant to link 15 countries
"ECOWAS trade liberalization scheme that has proven to be very successful, that has allowed for an increase in the volume of trade amongst the states. So intra-regional trade. We' are talking about the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor, the Abidjan-Dakar Corridor.
"These are trade and transport corridors. We are talking about the common external tariff.And we also forget that other regional economic communities and even continental organizations look towards ECOWAS as an exemple of successful funding.
"Because you have the ECOWAS community levy, which is a novel idea where a levy is placed on goods that come from outside into the region. So it has its own funding mechanism that other organizations struggle to maintain or to even establish.
"So there are lots of remarkable achievements. And suffice it to say that ECOWAS has also achieved so much in terms of standardizing the regulation of the activities of government and people in different sectors. So when you talk about the West Africa Power Pool, for instance, which is looking to harmonize what all the states, all the countries are generating in terms of power and how to redistribute it within the region.
"When you talk about our waterways and water systems, when you talk about livestock vaccination, when you talk about health, what has been achieved.
"And this is what the entire planet is aspiring towards, that convergence, if you will, so that countries can benefit and can develop. Because one of the major impediments to development is the low volume of trade among countries within Africa, on the African continent.
"So you cannot have an African continental free trade area without the regional economic communities working and without them establishing free trade amongst themselves.
That's when you will be able to establish or create the largest market in the world, because that is what the African continental free trade area would be. Under President Bola Ametinuwu's leadership, ECOWAS has been able to achieve a lot of the things that I have outlined, and ECOWAS continues to achieve much more.
"And you will hear much more about the achievements, of course, during the event, which will also have a lot of activities. There will be a segment that will have panels of discussions. There will be a focus on youth, because it's an area, it's a region that has a lot of youths.
"The overwhelming majority of the people in West Africa are youths, so there will be that focus. And let us also not forget some of the projects, major life-changing projects that we are aspiring towards, like the African Atlantic Pipeline. It's a gas pipeline that seeks to deliver Nigerian gas.
And along the way, of course, Ghana is a major gas producer now. Senegal is on the verge of producing gas, all the way to Morocco. So it's a gas pipeline that will traverse 15 countries, with the potential to also deliver gas to Europe,"