Nigerian representatives at the ECOWAS Parliament have warned that Nigeria may withdraw its membership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
This is coming over recruitment exercise concerns. The representatives say this will be considered, if the regional body does not suspend its ongoing recruitment exercise as recently directed in the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja.
The parliamentarians cited Nigeria’s huge financial commitments to the body in spite of its internal security challenges.
They said there was no commensurate return on investment for Nigeria in ECOWAS for all the country has done and is doing for the regional bloc since its inception in 1975.
This development is coming on the heels of recent skewed recruitment exercise at the ECOWAS Parliament, which was observed to be manifestly slanted to serve the personal interest of member-states to the exclusion of Nigeria.
Leader of the Nigerian delegation to the Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Ahmed Idris Wase, explained that it has become imperative that Nigeria reviews its relevance and membership of the bloc.
“If you are in a system, and you are not getting the right results where you are investing your money, it pays best to walk out of the union.
“In a situation where we are having an infrastructural deficit and witnessing security challenges, why should we continue to invest our money where it will not benefit our country.
“Yes, we will pull out if we don’t get the desired result from this,” Wase said.
The Nigerian Permanent Representative to ECOWAS, Musa Nuhu, also wrote to the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Sidie Mohamed Tunis, on the nepotistic employment scandal rocking ECOWAS.
In a letter dated July 20, 2022, Nuhu wrote, “Formal Complaint About Unfair Treatment and Confirmation of Staff at the ECOWAS Parliament.”
Stating that, “I have the honour to refer to our verbal discussion on the above subject matter and formally inform you that the attention of the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the ECOWAS Commission has been drawn to a number of complaints by Nigerian staff working at the ECOWAS Parliament. The grievances border around stagnation and overlooking of staff already working in the parliament in favour of outsiders in the ongoing recruitment for divisional heads and professional staff.
“This action directly contravenes the recommendations of the 30th meeting of the ECOWAS Administrative and Finance Committee as well as the position of the Council of Ministers, which directed that internal candidates should be prioritised in filling existing vacancies in ECOWAS institutions, as recommended in the Staff Skills Audit Report.
“The Honourable Speaker may kindly wish to note that the mission has examined the complaints of the staff of the parliament based on existing staff regulations as well as the decisions and guidelines given by the AFC and Council of Ministers for ECOWAS institutions to carry out the recruitment and found that their grievances are genuine.
“Therefore, as you rightly observed during our discussions, recruiting individuals outside the system to place them above the existing staff would only lead to discontent, demoralisation and continued stagnation of the staff. This will inevitably affect the overall performance of the Parliament.”
At the heart of the controversy is the implementation of the provision of the staff regulation of ECOWAS.
Nuhu continued, “It is understood that each institution in ECOWAS gets the permission (since there is a freeze on recruitment) to employ from the AFC/Council of Ministers. Thus, Parliament needs to show that the permission was given.
Also, according to Deputy Speaker Wase, the fact remains that as at today, Nigerian lawmakers are in receipt of certain misgivings, and protestations by people who are so affected.
Hon. Wase reiterated that Nigeria has done so much for ECOWAS, explaining that over 60 per cent of ECOWAS funding comes from Nigeria.
At the 2022 First Ordinary Session of the Parliament in July, the lawmakers had passed a resolution to suspend the recruitment exercise after Nigerian representatives at the parliament alleged discrimination and lopsidedness in the recruitment of workers at the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja.
The motion to suspend the recruitment and promotion in the ECOWAS Parliament was moved by Hon. Awajim Abiante, a Nigerian lawmaker at the ECOWAS Parliament.
The motion was seconded by Senator Abiodun Olujimi, a Nigerian lawmaker at the Parliament, supported by Hon. Yousoufa Bida and unanimously agreed by the House.
Abiante, who represents Andoni/Opobo/Nkoro federal constituency in the Nigerian House of Representatives, said: “The Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament is duty bound to respect the resolutions of Parliament. If he does not respect the resolution of Parliament, I wonder which Parliament he is heading…”