Tinubu tasks ECOWAS Parliament to retain Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso's membership

Segun Adeyemi 16:56 - 04 April 2024

President Bola Tinubu has called for peaceful resolution between ECOWAS and the three member state (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) who threatened to exit the sub-regional body. [@ecowas_cedeao/X]

President Bola Ahmed Tinuu has tasked the newly inaugurated legislators of the ECOWAS parliament to ensure that Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali remain in the subregional body.

Tinubu, who also serves as the chairman of the regional body, stated this before the swear-in of the legislators at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja, on Thursday, April 4, 2023.

He told the parliamentarians that it is their responsibility to reach resolute grounds using diplomatic means to unify the region and help strengthen its development.

Tinubu said, "In legislative considerations and in your various interactions, it is imperative that you take seriously that we have to build the economic prosperity of our region by ourselves."

President Bola Tinubu in a group photograph alongside Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the newly inaugurated members of the ECOWAS Parliament. [@ecowas_cedeao/X]

Meanwhile, at the inauguration of the parliaments, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan (Kogi Central/PDP), Senator Ireti Kingibe (FCT) amongst others, was inaugurated as a member of the 6th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament.

Natasha, Ireti and other newly elected officials of the 6th Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament affirmed their commitment by taking their oaths during the inaugural session.

The newly inaugurated legislators of the ECOWAS parliament swearing oath of office before President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. [@ecowas_cedeao/X]

The ECOWAS Parliament, established under the ECOWAS Treaty of May 28, 1975, with revisions made in July 1993, convened in Lagos, Nigeria.

Comprising 115 members from the 15 ECOWAS member states, Nigeria holds the largest share with 35 seats (including 17 Senators and 18 Honourable members), followed by Ghana with eight seats. Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Senegal each hold six seats in the Parliament.