Twice postponed, the summit of the Heads of
State and Government of the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
is to hold tomorrow, with a plan to drop
President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua as
chairman.
It was last rescheduled for January 18, 2010
after the previous date, December 21, 2009,
became unrealistic with the community's
chairman and Nigeria's President Yar'Adua
away in Saudi Arabia for medical attention.
The ECOWAS commission said in Abuja at the
weekend that the sub-regional leaders
would appoint a new chairman during the
one-day summit who will preside over the
affairs of the organisation in 2010.
The leaders are also to consider the report
of the Council of Ministers which took place
in November 2009 in Abuja and the 2009
yearly report of the President of the
ECOWAS Commission, which focuses on the
activities of the commission for 2009 as
well as the challenges in implementing the
various sectoral programmes in the sub-
region.
In particular, the summit would focus on the
performance of the community during the
period and 2009 work programme of the
institution, which is articulated around five
priority areas.
These include the completion of work on
the creation of a Customs union,
negotiations on the Economic Partnership
Agreements (EPAs), the development of
agricultural and environmental policies as
well as peace and security.
On its part, the Council of Ministers' report
encompasses the recommendations to
improve the efficacy of the various sectoral
programmes, particularly in the areas of
health, culture, the judiciary,
telecommunications and ICT. It also touches
on the guidelines for the preparation of
report on the ECOWAS multilateral
surveillance mechanism relating to the
ECOWAS monetary co-operation programme
whose main component is the creation of a
single currency for the region.
The regional leaders are also expected to
sign some supplementary acts and
decisions to improve the areas of
telecommunications and information,
communication and technology (ICT) as well
as facilitate the creation of a regional
copyright observatory.
Meanwhile, the Action Congress (AC) has
slammed ministers who constitute the
Federal Executive Council (FEC) for failing to
live up to the expectations of Nigerians
during the critical days that the country was
left rudderless.
In a statement issued in Lagos yesterday by
its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party said if the ministers
had shown courage and patriotism, the
leadership crisis would not have lasted as
long as it did, and the National Assembly
would not have resorted to the
unconstitutional solution that broke the
logjam.
"Today, we read about ministers pledging
their loyalty to Acting President Jonathan or
seeking his favour. We are not surprised at
their sudden love for Jonathan, whom
many of them did everything possible to
undermine apparently to please the
Yar'Adua clique in the cabinet.
"In any case, this kind of blind loyalty is not
what is required of self-respecting men and
women that make up the cabinet. Their
loyalty should first be to their country, so
that they can always act in its interest,
instead of pursuing narrow, selfish and
parochial interests," it said.
The AC described as sheer bunkum the
argument that FEC could not possibly have
invoked Section 144 of the Constitution - in
the days that President Yar'Adua held the
country by the jugular by failing to transmit
the necessary letter to the National
Assembly - because of the powerful
Yar'Adua clique in the cabinet.
The statement reads in part: "How can any
person or group of persons be superior to
the Constitution? Why were these self-
seeking few allowed to hold the whole
nation to ransom and ride roughshod over
Nigerians? The answer is simple: The under-
performing, second-rate cabinet lacks
people of integrity.
"What we had in the cabinet were those
telling us the President could rule from
anywhere for as long as he wished; that the
Vice President was already performing the
roles of the President anyway; that the
President was indeed recovering fast and
would soon return as well as those wilfully
flouting the directives of the then Vice
President or deliberately coming late to
scheduled meetings to spite him.
"Even when the Information and
Communications Minister Dora Akunyili
finally saw the light and sought to retrace
her footsteps by seeking to compel her
colleagues to do the right thing, she still met
with a cold shoulder from her colleagues."
The AC said that whatever the Acting
President decides to do, he must realise that
he cannot and will not achieve much with
the present crop of ministers.
"Nigeria needs men and women of rare
courage, strong conviction, great
determination to make a difference and
unparalleled commitment to national unity.
Those qualities are, unfortunately, lacking in
the FEC as presently constituted."
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