ECOWAS to spend $29bn on devt projects in W/Africa

Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, has said it had concluded plans for sub-regional development projects worth $29.66 billion for the period 2018 to 2022. President of ECOWAS Commission, Marcel Alain de Souza, stated this at the just concluded Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, in Abuja, while presenting the Status Report on the State of the Community. 

De Souza, who was represented by the commission’s Vice President, Edward Singhatey, said the projects would come under the Community Development Programme and cover seven priority sectors, including infrastructure, energy, agriculture and health. 

He said: “For the period 2018 to 2022, the commission has selected seven priority projects from key sectors namely: Infrastructure, energy, agriculture and health. The overall cost of these projects is estimated at $29.66bn. “In order to mobilise funds for the realisation of these priority projects for the region, a donor’s roundtable on the projects will hold in Abidjan on January 25 and 26.” 

Speaking on the Economic Partnership Agreement, EPA, between the European Union and West Africa, he said only Gambia, Mauritania and Nigeria were yet to sign the agreement. 

He added that the commission had organised workshops for the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN, and other trade unions to understand the benefit of the partnership. De Souza added that the meeting of the Presidential Task Force on the proposed ECOWAS single currency was scheduled to hold in February 2018.


Vanguard