Nigeria’s deputy senate president, Mr Barau Jibrin was yesterday selected as the acting speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament.
He was selected at the inaugural session of the sixth legislature of the sub-regional parliament held in Abuja.
His emergence followed the absence of a Togolese delegation to the assembly.
Jibrin was also elected as the first deputy speaker of the body.
Adjaratou Coulibaly from Cote D’ Ivoire was elected as the second deputy speaker; Alexander Afenyo-Markin from Ghana was elected third deputy speaker while Billay Tunkara from Gambia was elected as fourth deputy speaker.
The speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament is usually elected on rotational basis.
The Speaker of the sixth legislature of the ECOWAS was actually zoned to the Republic of Togo according to the rotational system established by Decision A/DEC. 6/06/06 of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
But during the inauguration of the assembly, the delegation of the Republic of Togo was absent.
The absence necessitated Mr Edwin Snowe JR, from Liberia to be elected as temporary speaker to preside over the inaugural session of the Parliament and conduct election of the four deputy speakers of the parliament.
After the inauguration, Snowe announced that the Nigeria’s deputy senate president who is also the 1st deputy speaker will act as speaker of the Parliament pending when the Togolese delegation is inaugurated.
Lawmakers from Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote D’ Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Senegal and Sierra Leone were inaugurated as members of the sixth legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament.
The Parliament, also known as the Community Parliament, is one of the institutions of the ECOWAS. It is the Assembly of Peoples of the Community, serving as a forum of dialogue, consultation and consensus for representatives of the people of West Africa to promote integration.
It was established under Articles 6 and 13 of the ECOWAS revised treaty of 1993 and it has 115 seats.
With Premium Times report
