The first Deputy Speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament, Senator Barau Jibrin, has described the ongoing sessions of the parliament in Kano as an opportunity to reach the grassroots.
Grassroots Parrot reports that the ancient city of Kano is hosting the ECOWAS’ 6 days second extraordinary parliament for the first time in history, and the regional parliament will be in the city until Friday, May 24, 2024.
Senator Jibrin, who doubled as Nigeria’s Deputy Senate President, told newsmen after a technical session of the parliament on Monday that the sessions of the parliament will be open without any restriction on what to deliberate upon.
“Tomorrow (Tuesday) is going to be the session that will implore all the parliamentarians and, of course, the invited guests that will be here with us tomorrow.
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“What we had today was the bureau meeting between the leadership of the Parliament and the committee chairmen and other principal officers of the parliament,”
“In this meeting, the entire Assembly has been brought here, and in the Assembly we don’t have any kind of restrictions. When we have a parliament, everything concerning the entire community will be discussed.
“When you have a parliament, even if you have an agenda, you still have a room for everybody to bring forward whatever he feels should be discussed.
“So it’s an open session for parliament and they don’t have restrictions. Everything about the society, about the economy, about ECOWAS, about the West African sub-region can be discussed. So, it’s an open-ended kind of a scope in respect of what is going to be discussed,”
“It’s in line with what we’ve said, we are here so that Kano will know ECOWAS parliament and ECOWAS parliament will know Kano,” He said.
The ECOWAS Parliament is composed of 115 seats, with each member-state of ECOWAS having a guaranteed minimum of five seats, with the remaining 40 seats shared among member-states on the basis of population, with Nigeria getting the largest share.
With the 15 member states of ECOWAS, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger not likely to attend, the Speakership rotates among the member states with a four-year term each. The current parliament will sit for the next four days.