6th regional ECOWAS parliament meeting holds in Kano
By Abdullahi Yusuf
The 6th Regional Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) Parliament Meeting holds in Kano from May 20 to May 25 with various Member-States attending.
The ECOWAS Parliament which is also known as Community Parliament, is one of the Institutions of ECOWAS.It is the Assembly of the People of the Community serving as a forum for Dialogue, Consultation and Consensus for Representatives of the People of West Africa, with the aim of promoting integration.
Addressing newsmen in Kano on Monday,the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Barau Jibrin of Nigeria, said the decision to hold the meeting in Kano was informed by the need to bring the members to grassroots for them to truly feel the impact of the herculean task ahead of them.
Senator Barau Jibrin who is also the Deputy Senate President of the Nigerian Senate, and who spoke shortly after the opening of the Technical Session of the meeting at the Bristol Hotel, Kano, said members of the Parliament need to know the people they are serving at the grassroots and the citizens also needed to know them.
He said this is the first time that these kinds of meetings and sessions of ECOWAS parliaments are taking place in Kano.
“It is in line with what we have said, we are here so that Kano will know ECOWAS Parliaments and ECOWAS Parliaments will know Kano.
“Kano is the centre of Commerce of the entire northern Nigeria. It is the political capital if you like, the political nerve centre of the entire Northern Nigeria.
“So, that is why we brought this session to hold here so that we bring ECOWAS closer to the people so that people will know ECOWAS Parliaments and ECOWAS Parliaments will go deeper into our various societies,” he said.
Jibrin said 115 Members States are supposed to be attending the Regional Legislative sitting in Kano, but that 3 members of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are not attending due to some reasons.
He said each member state should have a guarantee of a minimum of 5 seats, while the remaining 40 seats would be shared on the basis of population with Nigeria having the highest share due to its population strength.
