Falana Tasks ECOWAS To Approve Two Tenures

 

 

Femi Falana (SAN)  a Human rights activist has urged  ECOWAS leaders to  approve   two tenures  for presidents without further delay.

Falana said that in this era of military coup d'etat across West Africa, the approval  was important

He was speaking at the opening ceremony  of the maiden West Africa Civil Society Week (WACSW23) in Lagos, he said:.

Falana  maintained that   two tenures should be approved by ECOWAS for presidents in the region adding that In 2015, it was opposed by  Togo  while in 2022 Senegal, and Cote D'Ivoire did the same."

 

He also urged ECOWAS to take advantage of the political crisis in the region  to  launch the "ECO" currency.

 

He said: "The 30 years struggle by ECOWAS,  to establish a regional currency,  ECO to promote trade and development in the region has been hijacked with the collaboration of some leaders, particularly President Emmanuel Macron of  France  who has taken over the responsibility of establishing and even printing the new currency. This still shows colonial influence.

We must take advantage of the political crisis in West Africa to launch the ECO as the currency for the region."

 

 “We don't want military rule  considering that our development will be constrained. There is an urgent need to address tenure elongation in West Africa. What we call rule of law has become rule of the rich; rule of the few," he added.

 

The human rights lawyer urged the regional body  to end the reckless exploration of mineral resources of African countries by colonialists.

Executive Director of  WACSI, Nana Afadzinu, said civil societies want democracy and good governance. She said they  oppose coup d’états and prefer constitutional rule and good electoral governance for peace, security, prosperity and collective well-being.

"Civil Society and the enhanced and strengthened civic space that we advocate for to ensure sustainable development through good governance; transparency and accountability; social, economic, and political development; inclusivity and participation; social justice, social accountability and social protection; gender equality and non-discrimination- all to ensure peace and prosperity in West Africa, is under a major threat- and we are in a dilemma.

 

"We still face resourcing issues- COVID exposed the weakness of our institutions, structural patriarchy continues to be an obstacle and the inequitable power in international development strangles our growth and facilitates civic space constraints.

 

"ECOWAS, once our beacon of hope among regional economic bodies on the continent– a pace-setter and norm setter - seems to have lost the trust of its citizens and waned considerably in moral authority.

" We want our ECOWAS back- back to what it promised to be- that ECOWAS that wanted to be one of peoples and not states," she said.