President
Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) must run a leaner and smarter organisation by cutting costs and
becoming more efficient to achieve the objectives of the sub-regional body.
Speaking
while receiving the new President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean Claude
Brou, at the State House, Abuja, the President also called on the member states
of the organisation to pay their annual contributions as and when due.
A statement
by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, quoted the
President as saying that a lot of work had already been done towards cutting
running cost, for which a committee had recommended the reduction of the number
of commissioners, and the cost of keeping them in office.
“We must
work towards limiting costs, keeping the number of statutory positions low and
running the organisation more efficiently,” he said.
While
welcoming Brou to Abuja, Buhari pledged the full support of the Nigerian
government in ensuring that his tenure was successful, adding: “The task is
enormous. The job is not easy, given the many challenges facing the sub-region,
ranging from issues of security and that posed by the environment, including
the shrinkage of the Lake Chad.”
He, however,
stressed the full commitment of Nigeria, working with other ECOWAS member
countries, towards finding lasting solutions to the problems.
In his
remarks, Brou said he had come to inform the President of his assumption of
office at the ECOWAS Secretariat in Abuja from this week.
He expressed
preparedness to address priority issues, such as the common currency,
restructuring of the organisation and the pending issue of new memberships.
He also
presented a special message from the Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara to
Buhari and condoled him on the recent deaths of his family members.
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