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West Africa Free Movement Policy: ECOWAS Citizens Call for Implementation+PHOTOS

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By Gloria Ikibah

Citizens of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in The Gambia have expressed concerns over the lack of effective implementation of the free movement protocol in the region.

President of ECOWAS citizens in The Gambia, Michel Koivogui, shared these views during a public hearing in The Gambia on Tuesday, at the delocalized meeting of the  Joint Committee on Trade, Customs and Free Movement/Legal Affairs and Social Affairs, Gender, Women Affairs and Persons With Disabilities/Political Affairs, Peace, Security and APRM in Gambia.

The hearing was part of a broader meeting involving various joint committees focused on social affairs, legal issues, political matters, and regional integration.

The Co-chair of the Joint Committee, Hon. Edwin Melvin Snowe, explained that the town hall meeting aimed to gather citizen feedback on the implementation of the regional bloc’s free movement protocol.
He promised that all concerns and suggestions would be reviewed to enhance the implementation of regional protocols, particularly regarding free movement.

Naijablitznews.com reports that  ECOWAS Member States adopted the Protocol on the Free Movement of Persons, the Right of Residence, and Establishment on May 29, 1975, recognizing the importance of free movement for regional integration.

Despite this, Koivogui highlighted that nearly fifty years later, cross-border movement within West Africa remains challenging. He criticized the situation, noting that travelers are often subjected to extortion by security personnel at borders.

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He said: “I am very happy to meet the members of the ECOWAS parliament on the ground. This is because a lot of things have been going on on the ground that they are not aware of.
“We talk about free movement, we hear about free movement but we can say that there is no free movement between the ECOWAS states.
“When you want to cross the borders, they will collect money from you even if you have all your travel documents with you. If you refuse, they will force you out of the vehicle and ask the driver to go.
“So, we have cases where the drivers leave the passengers and go simply because they (passengers) refuse to give security officials money”.
Koivogui, revealed that receipts was not issued for illegal payments, and urged ECOWAS to carry out more sensitization at the community level.
According to him, when community citizens citizens are well-informed, it would be impossible for security agents to extort them at the borders.

“I want the ECOWAS to organize more awareness programmes on ECOWAS protocols both for the citizens and the officers because we realized also that some officers at the borders don’t even know the protocols of ECOWAS,” he added.
Other stakeholders, such as representatives from Chambers of Commerce and Industry, transport and market unions, as well as market women associations and labor groups, shared Koivogui’s views.
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Denzel Washington reveals he is part Nigerian

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Famous American actor, Denzel Washington has revealed he has Nigerian ancestry.

The ‘Gladiator II’ actor disclosed that his heritage test shows that he is 90 per cent Irish and 10 per cent Nigerian.

Washington spoke in a recent interview with British-Nigerian media personality, Ada Enechi.

“I am 10 per cent Nigerian and 90 per cent Irish,” he stated.

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Meanwhile, Denzel Washington has hinted at retirement.

The 69-year-old thespian disclosed during a press tour of his latest movie ‘Gladiator II’ in Australia that ‘Black Panther 3’ is one of his last films before retirement.
He said he would be retiring after shooting ‘Black Panther 3’, ‘Othello 2’ and ‘King Lear.’

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Police parade 20 suspected armed robbers, others in Osun

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About 20 suspected criminals arrested for various crimes across Osun State, including three suspected highway armed robbers, were on Friday paraded by the state police command.

Presenting the suspects to journalists, the spokesperson for the police, Yemisi Opalola, said the armed robbery suspects, Olajide Kareem (28), Mike Emmanuel (33), and Godwin Emmanuel (23) were arrested along Osu/Ilesa road.

Opalola said the suspects, during their operations robbed many people of their jewelries, phones cash, and other valuables.

She added that during one of the robbery incidents, a bus driver was shot in the leg, while a female passenger was raped by one of the suspects.

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Also paraded was Emmanuel Anthony, accused of using military uniforms to rob passengers along Ekiti road, where he forced a victim from Esa Oke, to transfer a sum of N3m to his account.

Anthony was also accused of robbing other people of their mobile phones valued at N1.25m.

Seven other suspects arrested for conspiracy, armed robbery and receipt of stolen vehicles, were also paraded.

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Four northern states in darkness as transmission lines trip

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Four northern states of Gombe, Bauchi, Benue and Plateau have been thrown into darkness, due to a fault on the 330kV double circuit transmission lines of Ugwuji-Makurdi-Jos.

The states are among the franchise area of Jos Electricity Distribution Company.

According to the Head of Corporate Communications, JEDC, Friday Elijah, the tripping of the lines occurred in the afternoon on Friday, resulting in the loss of power supply on all the 33KV feeders.”

He disclosed that the Transmission Company of Nigeria engineers were working to rectify the fault.

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“We hope to restore normal power supply to our esteemed customers as soon as the fault is rectified and power supply is restored back to normalcy,” said Elijah.

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