Regional body suffers major financial constraint
ECOWAS' major source of revenue is its community levies.
According to her, the financial constraints can be blamed on rapidly shrinking sources of income.
Recently however, community levies have often either not been remitted or have delayed, putting the Commission under a lot of pressure and forced it to re-prioritize its activities.
Mrs Suleiman made the disclosure in Accra at the opening of a two-day tripartite meeting of the ECOWAS designated Training Centres of Excellence (TCEs).
The meeting seeks to discuss the modalities for enhancing technical and operational cooperation between the ECOWAS Commission and the TCEs in the areas of training and research, taking into consideration the evolving peace and security situation in the region.
“Happily, the second window for funding of the African Peace and Security Architecture is being concluded and it is heart-warming to note that bottlenecks, which hinder successful implementation of the first phase are being eliminated,” she said.
She added that, “The support to the TCEs will now be at the regional level and not at the continental level as the funds will now be made available directly to ECOWAS and not through the African Union as was the case in the previous phase.”
Mrs Suleiman said it was their hope that the TCEs would be able to serve as research think-tanks for ECOWAS in the formulation of policies that would enhance peace and security within the region.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh