By Innocent Odoh
The Commission of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has said that its major reforms are beginning to yield fruits as the ECOWAS institutions have saved about $12 million from its operational costs in 2016.
The President of the Commission, Marcel De Souza, made this known, while delivering his remarks at the opening of the First Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Friday.
De Souza, who was represented by the Vice President, Edward Singhatey said efficient cost control measures had been implemented to strengthen the institution of the regional bloc and make it even more reliable.
“The cost cutting measures were put in place by the new management when we took over office in March 2016.
“There was an urgent need for those measures to be put in place because when we assumed the role of management; we found out that the commission was in a precarious financial situation.
“We had to look at the financing that was available vis a vis the projects and activities we were supposed to implement and rationalise them; we had to prioritise them and rationalise our expenditure.
“We took a number of measures by cutting out unnecessary expenditure, streamlining delegations for meetings and cutting out certain activities we felt we could do without in 2016.
“As a result, we saved somewhere between eight to 12 million dollars,” he said.
He said further that the cut in cost was to implement programmes and projects that will facilitate the ECOWAS Vision 2020. He noted that all the ECOWAS institutions had benefited from the measures stressing that the much needed institutional reforms are being carried out by the community institutions.
This development was in line with the call made in December by the Chairperson of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for a cut in administration costs and a focus on programmes that will transform the region’s development.
