By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Mali, Niger, B’Faso absent as ECOWAS parliament begins Kano meeting
Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and Mali were absent at the meeting of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African State
The meeting is expected to discuss member states’ socio-economic, political, security and other challenges bedeviling the sub-regio
Burkina Faso, Niger Republic and Mali had last year pulled out of ECOWAS, after they were sanctioned over military takeover of power.
In an interview with journalists at the venue of the meeting on Monday, the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Dr. Barau Jibrin, said Monday’s engagement was like bureau meetings between the leadership of the parliament and the committee chairmen, including other principal officers of the parliament.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is going to be the session that will implore all the parliamentarians, and of course, the invited guest that will be here with us
Tuesday will be a session for all the parliamentarians; and VIPs are going to be invited to witness the session. It is going to be a general meeting,” Jibrin said.
Jibrin, who is also Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, explained that representatives from Togo, who did not participate in the previous meeting, are expected to attend the Kano meeting.
“Representatives from Togo were not there in the previous meeting because there were no elections in that country then; but now elections have taken place and we are expecting them to be around within the period we are going to have this event; and they will hopefully be sworn in on Thursday,” he added.
Jubrin said the agenda for the meeting was all-encompassing, including the economy, security and other challenges facing member-states