2024 Community budget under scrutiny as Second Session of Parliament opens in Abuja
The 2024 consolidated budget of the 15 member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will be the main focus of the Second Ordinary Session of the regional Parliament which opened in Abuja on Wednesday, 22nd November 2023 in Abuja.
The 25 day session, which is being attended by its 115 members, will also consider the status of implementation of the region’s integration and development progammes.
During the session, which is being held in accordance with Article 27 of the Supplementary Act relating to the enhancement of the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament, will also deliberate on the draft Community regulations that emanated from the ECOWAS Commission, examine strategies for improving the governance arrangement and propose solutions for the consolidation of democracy in the region.
One of the highlights of the session will be the presentation of the President of the Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray on the State of the Community which will provide the parliament with state of the political, economic and social aspects of the Community’s integration project as stipulated in Article 32 of the Supplementary Act relating to the enhancement of the powers of the ECOWAS Parliament. It provides 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“.
This bi-annual exercise remains a very important feature of the statutory ordinary sessions of the Parliament, as it provides Members of Parliament with a bird’s eye-view of the health of the sub-region and includes a review of the past and the forecast for the future.
The session provides an opportunity for the representatives of the people and all stakeholders to have a comprehensive appreciation of the level of implementation of various Community programmes in line with their monitoring the evaluation function.
Additionally, several parliamentary workshops are scheduled to take place on the margins of the session, which is expected to be attended by public and private sector operators as well as members of the organized civil society.
