ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – Immediate past Speaker of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, on Thursday expressed regrets that the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament by the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government was not signed into law during his tenure.
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This is even as the Senate President, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has called on the ECOWAS Parliament, to join hands with Nigeria and the inernational community in the ongoing war to wipe out terrorism from the region.
Ekweremadu, who spoke while delivering his valedictory speech during the inauguration of the Fourth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja, added that it is a big embarrassment that ECOWAS is the only parliamentary region in the world without legislative powers.
“(It is, nevertheless) gratifying that we brought this age-long quest from nothing to a point, where this Institution is just signatures away from evolving into a true Parliament.
“From the European Union Parliament to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), which is a year younger than the ECOWAS Parliament, it is normal for regional parliaments to exercise legislative powers and carry out other fundamental functions of a parliament such as oversight function.
“For emphasis, today, the ECOWAS Parliament regrettably remains the only regional parliament anywhere in the world without legislative powers. This should be a big embarrassment and reproach to us as a sub-region,” he said.
He, however, described the adoption of the Act as the greatest achievement of the Third Legislature of the Community Parliament, which he headed.
He appealed to The Authority to have the Act signed into Law in earnest.
“By far, the most important objective and success recorded by the Third Legislature of the Community Parliament remains the adoption of the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament by the Community Decision Making bodies.
“It is important to note that the Supplementary Act enjoyed the inputs of all necessary organs and institutions of the Community. On its part, ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government adopted the Act during its 46th Ordinary Session in Abuja on December 15, 2014,” he said.
Ekweremadu reiterated that the enhancement of the powers of the Community Parliament was in tandem with the fundamental principles of democracy, international best practices, the ECOWAS Revised Treaty, and the New Article 13 of the Supplementary Protocol.
“It is common knowledge that true democratic governance rests on the tripod of the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary. The enhancement of powers is not for competition, but for the good governance of ECOWAS. It is to build strong institutions necessary for running a balanced and transparent ECOWAS. Importantly, it was the vision of our founding fathers to give expression to voices, challenges, and aspirations of the peoples of West Arica in a true and vibrant Parliament,” he reiterated.
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He named other major achievements of his leadership to parliament to include the bequeathing of a befitting parliamentary complex, while also handing over of a grant of about N1 billion for the construction of an office complex. He urged the new leadership to ensure that the grant was strictly used for the purpose for which it was received.
Other efforts at repositioning the Parliament, Ekweremadu said, included ensuring that the 115 seats of the Community Parliament was fully occupied for the first time with the coming of Cote d’Ivoire and rejoining by Guinea; elaborate capacity building for parliament; creation of visibility and awareness for the Parliament, and revival of the Conference of the Speakers and Presiding Officers of Parliaments of West Africa.
He explained that the Third Legislature built elaborate and beneficial partnership with other regional and international legislative bodies, while also launching the ECOWAS Parliament into the realm of parliamentary diplomacy for the economic development, peace, and security of the sub-region.
The ECOWAS Parliament has elected a new Speaker in the person of Hon. Moustapha Cisse Lo of the Republic of Senegal.
In his goodwill message at the inaugural session of the 4th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament, Saraki noted that it would be difficult to restore full security to the region, if the region does not act in unison to eliminate the scourge of terrorism.
Saraki commended past efforts of the parliament aimed at enhancing the socio-economic development of member nations.
“Our sub-region has in recent times fallen victim to terror and the activities of organised crime. The region has lost much in social and economic terms.
“Unless we act together, the objective of eliminating terrorism from our soil will be harder to achieve. The ECOWAS Parliament provides us a unique platform to advance this objective.
“Therefore, it has a major role to play in addressing the menace of terrorism both as a coordinator of regional effort and an initiator of the right legal framework that can lead to a cohesive regional effort.
“I urge the ECOWAS Parliament to join hands with us in Nigeria and the international community to ensure that we eliminate terrorism from the region,” he said.
He noted that the Parliament, though just 16 years old, has achieved significant strides.
“In nurturing the vision of our founding fathers, cementing our collective aspirations and providing us a platform for the integration process, notwithstanding the obvious limitations.
“The experiment we had with a sub-regional Parliament in West Africa, as well as the significant achievements recorded especially in the area of Parliamentary diplomacy in the Mano River area, the Ivorian conflict and the Guinea Bissau crises are all testimonies of the critical moderating role that the parliament is capable of providing,” he said.
He, however, told the ECOWAS Parliamentarians that the Nigerian National Assembly believes that a Parliament should embody the vision of a secure and prosperous people and necessarily make laws and conduct oversight functions to ensure that such vision is ultimately secured.
He said while the National Assembly is ready to work with the parliament to achieve its objective, it needs the sincerity of purpose and full commitment to the vision of the ECOWAS Parliament.
