By Brave Dickson
A political group under the auspices of the, National APC Supporters’ Centre, Abuja has congratulated Bola Tinubu over his emergence as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States.
Tinubu was elected chairman at the 63rd Ordinary Session of the regional bloc held on Sunday afternoon in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau.
ECOWAS chairmanship is a position held by one of the heads of state or government of the member countries, chosen on a rotating basis for a one-year tenure.
Speaking with our correspondent, the National Coordinator of the group, Alhaji Ibrahim Batati said the role Tinubu played in stabilizing peace in The Gambia also gave African leaders, the confidence that Tinubu can chair ECOWAS.
“Between 2016 and 2017, The Gambia’s President, Yahya Jammeh was due to step down, but he vowed to stay on, despite losing elections to Adama Barrow.
“The tensed political instability would have led to military invasion but was averted through the efforts of Tinubu and other leaders.
“If Tinubu could play such role at the time he wasn’t a president, it goes to show how well he will perform as Nigeria’s president and chairman of ECOWAS,” Batati said.
The frequent challenges that will confront Tinubu as chairman of ECOWAS would include:
1) Political instability and constant military coup among most West African countries.
2) Differences in currency and language.
3) Population differences and development.
3) Lack of manpower.
4) Lack of finance.
5) Ratification and implementation of decisions.
6) Low level of trade among West African countries and many others.
ECOWAS is a regional political and economic union of 15 countries located in West Africa.
Collectively, these countries occupy an area of 5.12 million km2 which is about 1.98 million square miles and has a population estimate of over 413.92 million people.
