Idris Ahmed
18 November 2008
The West African sub-region bears the greater brunt of the current global financial crisis and it is sad that the region's representatives were not invited to the Global Economic Summit recently organised in New York by leaders of the world's developed economies (the G20), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said in Abuja yesterday.
Director General of the West African Monetary Agency (WAMA) Professor Mohamed Ben Omar Ndiaye, who spoke on its behalf, said the fifteen member states of WAMA are meeting to find solutions to their own problems. WAMA is a specialised monetary agency of ECOWAS.
Ndiaye spoke at the opening ceremony of the 17th Ordinary Joint Meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and the Operations and Administration Committee of the West African Monetary Agency (WAMA).
The African Union and ECOWAS were not invited to the Global Economic Summit which ended at the weekend in New York. The President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Father D'escoto Brockman, has condemned the summit for being selective.
Ndiaye said the global financial crunch came as a result of the financial mismanagement by the international community, with negative effects on the West African sub-region. He said, "We are left out of the G20 meeting even though we bear the brunt of the crisis. The 15 member countries of WAMA are meeting here in Abuja to deliberate on the way forward. We are having financial crisis, our institution is having problem. There are problems of mistrust, fear and doubt. We hope to resolve our problems. WAMA is open for suggestion and we hope there will be honest suggestions in this meeting."
ECOWAS's Director for Multilateral Surveillance Dr. Lasane Kabore, in his speech, appealed to the delegates to deliberate with an open and objective mindset and put regional interests above national interests.
Kabore, who was represented by Nelson Olalekan Magbegbeola, the Divisional Chief, Finance and External Sector, Department of Multilateral Surveillance of ECOWAS, said member countries should consider themselves as one.
"With an objective, transparent and sincere disposition to our deliberations in this session, our recommendations to the Committee of Governors and thereafter to the Convergence Council shall be of tremendous value to the integration process", he said.
He said the ECOWAS' vision 2020, which sought to create ECOWAS of peoples through the creation of a single economic space in which people transact business and live in dignity and peace under the rule of law and good governance must be enhanced.
He said: "The entire community and our development partners are watching as we strive towards the realization of the vision. We cannot afford to betray the confidence reposed in us. We cannot afford to fail. We cannot afford to disappoint the over 250 million people of the West Africa region."
He added, "All the fifteen ECOWAS member states are watching. The five member states of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) are watching. The two WAMZ observer member states - Cape Verde and Liberia are watching. The eight member states of the UEMOA zone are watching. The international community is watching. In short, everyone is watching us with keen interest to see if we shall give them a credible monetary union, based on sound macroeconomic management."
He said in the light of the triple tragedy facing the global economy, i.e. food, fuel and financial crises, the need for sound macroeconomic management in the pursuit of ECOWAS Monetary Cooperation Programme (EMCP) adopted in 1987 cannot be over-emphasised.
According to him, the monetary integration programme requires that ECOWAS pursues an economic and financial policy convergence programme aimed at achieving monetary and fiscal discipline and a regional convergence of economic performance.
"This regional initiative requires each country to formulate a pluri-annual convergence programme and have a quarterly performance report prepared by its National Coordinating Committee", he said.
He further said: "It is crucial that the operations of this National Coordinating Committee be integrated into the economic management system of each member state. ECOWAS Commission would appreciate it if you could ensure the establishment of the NCC in your member state, if it has not been created or, where it has been created, ensure its effective functioning.
"Annually, ECOWAS Commission gives a grant of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) to the established NCC in the member states. I am happy to inform you that this subvention will be increased substantially in the next fiscal year."
The delegates are also to deliberate on the report of the study on the ECOWAS single currency initiative conducted by the International Monetary Fund. "We would appreciate your candid opinion on the report, which will form part of your recommendations to the Committee of Governors and the Convergence Council", Kabore, said.
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