By John Okeke
The Fifth legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament has established 14 standing Committees during its inaugural session in Niamey, Niger Republic.
They included committee on Agriculture, Environment and National Resources; Committee on Education, Science and Culture; Committee on Energy and Mines; Committee on Administration, Finance and Budget; Committee on Health ; Committee on Industry and Private Sector as well as Committee on Infrastructure.
Others include Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Committee on Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research; Committee on Political Affairs, Peace, Security and African Peer Review Mechanism(APRM); Committee on Public Accounts Control and Audit ; Committee on Social Affairs, Gender and Women’s Empowerment; Committee on Telecommunications and Information Technology; and Committee on Trade , Customs and Free Movement.
Each standing committee is to consist of not less than six members and at most ten. In all, there are fifty six positions to guarantee the balance of languages, gender and nationality.
For the positions of Chairperson, Anglophones have six, francophones seven and Lusophones one; Vice Chairperson six for Anglophones, seven for Francophones and one for Lusophones. The positions of 1st Rapporteurs go to five Anglophone countries , eight to Francophones and one to Lusophones; while for that of the 2nd Rapporteur, five go to Anglophones , Francophones seven and Lusophones two. The breakdown indicates that Anglophones have 22 positions, Francophone 29 and Lusophones 5.
Among the Nigerian parliamentarians heading two standing committees are Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume in charge of the Committee on Administration, Finance and Budget while Lynda Chuba Ikeazu heads that of Telecommunications and information technology.
Others committee Chairperson and their nationality include ;Youssoufou Nouhoume- Benin- Committee on Public Account;
Sakande Reine Bertille- Burkina Faso- Committee on Social Affairs , Gender and Women Empowerment; Orlando Dias -Cape Verde – Committee on Health; Adjaratou Coulibaly- Cote d’ Ivoire- Committee on Infrastructure ; Kebba Barrow – Gambia – Committee on Macro Economic Policy and Economic Research;
Kwasi Ameyaw-Cheremeh- Ghana- Committee on Trade, Customs and Free Movement;
Alpha Bah-Guinee-Committee on Industry and Private Sector;
Edwin Snowe Jr- Liberia- Committee on Political Affairs , Peace, Security and African Peear Review Meachanism (APRM);
Moussa Badiaga – Mali- Committee on Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources;
Nassirou Halidou-Niger -Committee on Energy and Mines;
Aime Assine- Senegal – Committee on Education, science and Culture;
And Chernor Maju Bah-Sierra Leone-Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
