By Sunny Anderson Osiebe...
The Parliament of the Economic Community
of West African States, ECOWAS Parliament, has lauded the Deputy President of
the Nigerian Senate and former Speaker of the Community Parliament, Senator Ike
Ekweremadu, for his immense contributions, which helped in the enhancement of
the powers of the Parliament.
This was conveyed in a letter signed by
the Secretary-General of the Parliament, Dr. Nelson Magbagbeola, forwarding a
copy of the Supplementary Act to him.
The letter reads in part: “On behalf of
the Honourable Speaker, I would like to thank you for your effort as the
Speaker of the Third Legislature (of the Community Parliament).
“Your contribution towards the growth of
the ECOWAS Parliament, especially in respect of the formulation and adoption of
the Supplementary Act on the Enhance of Powers of ECOWAS Parliament, is highly
appreciated.
“It is, therefore, my pleasure to inform
you that the Fiftieth (50th) Ordinary Session of the Authority of
heads of State and Government, adopted and signed the Supplementary Act on
Enhancement of Powers of ECOWAS Parliament”.
It would be recalled that although the
ECOWAS Parliament was established in the year 2000, it had remained a mere
advisory institution until recently.
However, the Third Legislature of the
Community Parliament headed by Senator Ekweremadu as the Speaker, championed
the transformation that would now enable the Community Parliament exercise some
fundamental functions of a legislature 16 years after its establishment.
This followed the recent signing of the
Supplementary Act for that purpose by the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State
and Government.
This would count as one of the major
legacies bequeathed to the Parliament by Nigeria under Senator Ekweremadu’s
Speakership of the Parliament.
Meanwhile, Nigeria can only produce
another Speaker of the Community Parliament in 2072, about 55 years from now,
based on the extant Protocol establishing the institution.
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