ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – President Bola Tinubu is set to become the new chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), voiceofnaija.ng has gathered. President Muhammadu Buhari previously held the position in 2018.
This piece of news was announced by Mr. Bayo Onanuga, one of President Tinubu’s close associates, via a tweet on Sunday.
He stated that the Nigerian President who is currently in Bissau for the 63rd Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS will succeed President Umaro Embalo of Guinea Bissau, who became chairman 4 July 2022 at the 61st summit in Accra.
Recall that Tinubu left Abuja on Saturday ahead of the Sunday meeting of the Heads of State of the regional political and economic bloc.
Tinubu, who succeeded Buhari as Nigerian President in May 2023, is making his first international outing on the African continent at the ECOWAS meeting.
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He had attended the summit for ‘A New Global Financing Pact’ hosted by French president, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France, in June.
The summit of the ECOWAS Heads of State is expected to address memoranda on pressing sub-regional issues, including a report of the 50th ordinary session of the mediation and security council covering security challenges faced by the member countries, report of the 90th ordinary session of ECOWAS council of ministers on the financial situation of the body, the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as a report on the status of transition in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
The ECOWAS which was formed in 1975, currently has 15 member States with a combined population of 387 million and nominal GDP of $816 billion.
The member states are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.