Janet Samuel, Abuja
Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament Memounatou Ibrahima, has appealed to member states to boost funding to meet the institution’s growing needs.
While declaring open the Joint Committee meeting on administration, budget, finance, and economic research in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Ibrahima urged member states to increase their funding support.
She noted that the subregion was currently facing financial difficulties and dangers, which threatened the execution and realisation of community projects and programmes 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.
“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.
Ibrahima added that Ivory Coast was the first high-performance ECOWAS member country based on certain dimensions of regional integration, namely: commercial integration, productive integration, and macroeconomic integration.
Speaking earlier, the Vice President of the Ivorian National Assembly, Diawara Mamadou, said that parliament played an important role in the preparation of budgets both nationally and in international organisations.
He said that for ECOWAS, where Parliament plays a fundamental role in monitoring through budget preparation and oversight, it was important for constituents to be informed about parliament’s actions regarding budgetary matters.
According to him, parliament is responsible for preparing and overseeing the execution of individual national budgets, so it is fundamental to understand how the community parliament examines and controls its budget.
Also speaking, Mrs Niali Kaba, Ivorian Minister of Economic Planning and Development, representing the Minister of Foreign Affairs and African Integration, Wautabouna Ouatarra, said the adoption of the ECOWAS budget marked a decisive turning point in the Community’s annual life.
“While this budget outlines all the resources and expenditures planned for ECOWAS institutions for the year in a single document, it is primarily the financial translation of our region’s integration and development policy,” she said.
The Chairman of the parliament’s Joint Committee on Administration, Finance, Budget, Public Accounts, Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research, Benjamin Kalu assured that parliament would ensure the judicious and transparently use of all funds.
Kalu who is also the deputy speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, said such was only achievable through meaningful engagements with critical stakeholders like the ECOWAS Commission and the Administration and Finance Committee.
“The Parliament has a critical duty to ensure that public resources are utilised responsibly and for intended purposes by the Executives.
“As Representatives of the people of the region, we must champion the promotion and practice of transparency and accountability.
