A delocalized meeting chaired by Nigeria’s House of Representatives Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and comprising several standing committees of the ECOWAS Parliament is currently underway in Abidjan, Ivory Coast until the week's end.
The committees involved include Administration, Finance, Budget, Public Accounts, Macroeconomic Policy, and Economic Research. The meeting is centered around the theme "The Role of the ECOWAS Parliament in Community Budget Formulation and Monitoring."
The Joint Committee, established with the responsibility of conducting vital oversight activities as outlined in the community policy, aims to provide its members with a comprehensive understanding of the key issues.
This is intended to facilitate informed parliamentary discussions on budgeting and equip members with the necessary skills to perform oversight functions over ECOWAS programs and activities, by the Supplementary Act on the Enhancement of the Powers of the Parliament.
Resource persons, predominantly from relevant technical directorates of the ECOWAS Commission, are expected to enlighten the members of the Joint Committee on recent developments in the sectors under scrutiny. Additionally, representatives from organizations such as civil society will deliver presentations to provide comprehensive perspectives on the issues at hand.
The Committee on Administration, Finance, and Budget is entrusted with various responsibilities, including the adoption of the community budget, the assessment of the Parliament's draft annual budget, and the monitoring of financial and administrative management within the parliament. This committee also evaluates the implementation of community financing mechanisms and supervises the execution of the Parliament's budget.
With 115 seats and fourteen Standing Committees, the ECOWAS Parliament ensures that each of the 15 member states is guaranteed a minimum of five allotted seats.
The distribution of the remaining forty seats is based on the population of each country, as detailed by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) holds a total of 35 seats, followed by Ghana with eight, and Côte d’Ivoire with seven. Other member states have six or five seats, proportionate to their populations.
Post a Comment