Body
reiterates stronger regional integration through road transit project
President
Muhammadu Buhari yesterday advised the Economic Community of West African
States (ECOWAS) member-countries to tread with caution in their pu
sh for a
single currency in the sub-region by 2020.
Buhari, who
gave the caution in his speech at the fourth meeting of the presidential task
force on the ECOWAS currency programme in Niamey, Niger Republic, said the
necessary economic fundamentals among countries continue to differ over the
years, making it more difficult to pull through with the project by 2020.
He advised
that the ECOWAS should proceed cautiously with the integration agenda, taking
into consideration the above concerns and the lessons currently unfolding in
the European Union (EU).
According to
a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity,
Femi Adesina, Buhari noted that some of the obstacles to realising the roadmap
for the implementation of a single currency include diverse and uncertain
macro-economic fundamentals of many countries, unrealistic inflation targeting
based on flexible exchange rate regime and inconsistency with the African
monetary co-operation programme.
The
president said domestic issues in ECOWAS member-countries relating to their
constitutions and dependence on aid continue to affect the framework for
implementing the single currency in the sub-region.
Buhari told
the heads of state that the conditions that pushed Nigeria into withdrawing
from the process in the past had not changed.
The
president, who noted that the West African Economic and Monetary Union
countries should make a presentation on a clear roadmap towards delinking from
the French treasury, advised an examination of the African Union position on
the same issue.
In his
remarks, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Marcel Alain de Souza, said
the single currency for the West African sub-region was a laudable and
historical project, but regretted that it had taken too long to be actualised.
Alain de
Souza, who said the creation of a central bank for the West Coast would accelerate
the process, noted that Nigeria constitutes more than 70 per cent of the GDP of
the West African region, with a population of 180 million, and would play a
significant role in facilitating the process of realising a single currency for
the sub-region.
In another
development, the ECOWAS Parliament has reiterated the importance of the
implementation of its road transport policy, which supports its aim of a
border-free region across member-states.
The Speaker
of the parliament, Moustapha Cisse Lo, said transport infrastructure
development contributes to the borderless region vision of ECOWAS where member
states could have equal access to resources of the region for responsible and
sustainable economic growth.
He stated
this yesterday at the opening ceremony of the five-day de-localised meeting of
the ECOWAS Parliament joint committee on infrastructure and industrial
development /agriculture, environment, water resources and rural development
held in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.
Cisse Lo
said that the parliament, through its joint committee, would make an inquiry
into the status and effectiveness of the road transport and transit
facilitation programme’s implementation.
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