Opening of the ECOWAS Thirty-Fifth Meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) in Abuja

The thirty-fifth meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was officially opened on the 28th of June 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria. This significant five-day meeting will engage key stakeholders in detailed discussions to address issues of administrative and financial matters critical to the effective functioning and sustainability of the ECOWAS community.

In her welcome address, H.E. Damtien TCHINTCHIBIDJA, Vice President of the ECOWAS Commission, underlined the importance of this meeting in the context of recent structural changes within the ECOWAS Commission.

In his speech, Prof. Nazifi Abdullahi Darma, Commissioner for Internal Services, outlined the meeting’s agenda and the key issues to be discussed.

H.E. Amb. Olawale Emmanuel Awe, Chair of the Administration and Finance Committee, officially opened the meeting with an impactful statement, emphasizing the committee’s critical role in overseeing ECOWAS’s administrative and financial operations.

Central to the meeting’s discussions is the adoption of a new organogram following the reduction of the ECOWAS Commission from 15 members to 7 members. The committee will also review the financial status of the community as of 15th June 2024 and discussed the implementation of the Community Levy Protocol. The challenges in remitting proceeds collected by member states will be address, emphasizing the importance of the community levy (0.5% of the value of imported goods) for funding ECOWAS programs.

H.E. Amb. Olawale Emmanuel Awe, Chair of the AFC, highlighted the committee’s crucial role in ensuring the financial and administrative integrity of ECOWAS, noting, “Our community relies on our objective and dispassionate handling of our mandate.”