12th August, 2024
The Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Memounatou Ibrahima, has called on the bloc’s member states to scale up its funding for the institution to meet its prevailing multifaceted challenges.
Ibrahima made this known while declaring open a meeting of the Parliament’s Joint Committee on administration, budget, finance, public account, macroeconomic policy and economic research on Monday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
She noted that the sub-region was currently facing financial difficulties and dangers, which threatened the execution and realisation of community projects and programmess that necessitated increased funding by member states.
“I want to seize the opportunity of our meeting to call on the member states to scale up their efforts to finance the community.
“The current context is marked by the global repercussions of recession and inflation, provoked by international tensions, and the security threats within the region.
“These limited financial resources are under the important financing needs of the community.
“As you know, the community budget is supplied at 85 per cent by the community levy, which is a 0.5 per cent tax imposed on goods from countries that are not members of the CDAO.
“Unfortunately, the last report on the state of the community presented by the President of the Commission revealed a weak mobilisation of its resources during these last years,” the speaker said.
According to her, community raising is perfectly reflected in the solidarity and responsibility of its respective governments, aimed at building a prosperous and peaceful community environment.
Ibrahima reminded the participants that the meeting represented not only an opportunity for collaboration but also a moment of reflection on the strategies that member states must adopt in response to the region’s challenges.
She stressed that the meeting must address the role of the ECOWAS Parliament in the community’s budgetary process, especially against the backdrop of current challenges and realities.
“The goal is to allow the lawmakers to better understand the challenges related to the budget examination of the community in order to strengthen and consolidate the collaboration between the ECOWAS Parliament and other community institutions.
“I am convinced that our discussions on the role of ECOWAS in the elaboration and follow-up of the budget of the community will generate relevant analyses and solid recommendations to accelerate our resolution towards a community of fully integrated peoples.
“This will culminate in a peaceful and prosperous region with strong and respectful institutions of fundamental freedom working for a sustainable inclusive development.
“The index of regional integration in Africa measures to what extent the African countries in the north, the commitments they have taken in the context of various initiatives of pan-African integration, such as the African Union’s 2063 Agenda or the Abuja Treaty, relating to ECOWAS,” she said.
