The 67th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was hosted by Tinubu on Sunday in the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja, as previously reported.
President Tinubu’s second tenure as Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority came to an end with the high-level summit, which takes place six months after the final session in December 2024. He was first elected to the position on July 9, 2023, and was re-elected on July 7, 2024.
As the regional bloc still reels from the departures of Mali, Burkina Faso, and the Niger Republic, whose military juntas declared their departure from ECOWAS earlier this year, the 67th Ordinary Session was called at a crucial moment.
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The bloc’s internal issues, rising insecurity, democratic reversals, and the necessity of greater economic integration among member states are all anticipated topics of discussion during the summit.
Earlier on Saturday, the Nigerian president called for a paradigm shift in the way the area handles its natural resources during the first-ever West Africa Economic Summit (WAES), which was held at the recently opened Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre.
“The period of warm pit to the port must come to an end,” Tinubu declared. Our mineral wealth needs to be transformed into industry, jobs, technology, and domestic economic value.
He emphasized the necessity of regional manufacturing and value addition, pointing out that the region’s potential for sustainable growth is only constrained by the current raw resource export status quo.
The President also voiced concern about the low intraregional trade among ECOWAS member states, which is now less than 10%.
