Abuja — Chief Ojo Maduekwe, the chairman, ECOWAS Council of Ministers, on Friday, said the transportation of gas from Niger Delta to Benin, Togo and Ghana would begin in 2010.

Maduekwe, who is also Nigeria's minister of Foreign Affairs, said this at the opening of the 63rd session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in Abuja.

He said the development followed the successful amnesty programme embarked upon by the federal government earlier in the year.The minister said a regional centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency had been created. He also said that the interconnection of network of the West African Power Pool and the African Gas Pipeline was currently operational. Maduekwe, however, described as unfortunate, the non-implementation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and Services. "After thirty years, the implementation of the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement, as well as Right of Residence and Establishment is still a matter of serious concern. The time has come for all of us to demonstrate that we have the political will to tackle this menace now," he said.Maduekwe also expressed the hope that the construction of the Joint Border Posts (JBP) would begin in 2010. Maduekwe said negotiators from the region had secured a firm financial commitment from the European Union (EU) on funding the Economic Partnership Agreement Development Programme (EPADP).

On Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, he stressed the need for the strengthening of the protocol to make it difficult for anti-social elements to take over governments. 'It is important to remind ourselves that orderly and constitutional succession of power will ensure that stable policies are pursued and will in turn entrench our integration programmes," he said. He added that ECOWAS remained committed to assisting both Guinea and Niger in restoring constitutional order in their respective countries in no distant future. Earlier, ECOWAS president, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, noted that the impact of the global financial crises posed great challenges to the economy of the region. He said that during the year, the commission focused its activities on consolidating the common market and achieving market and macro-economic convergence. "It also concentrated on meeting the challenges of our regional strategy on poverty reduction, emphasis on the definition and implementation of policies," Chambas said.