ECOWAS: Akufo-Addo Raises Alarm Over Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram Activities

Nana Akufo-Addo, the president of Ghana and chairperson of the ECOWAS Authority, has condemned the activities of Al-Qaeda and the Boko Haram sect in the Lake Chad Basin.

The Nation reports that he said the insurgents were taking advantage of the poverty situation within member states in the recruitment and indoctrination of the youths in the region.

Akufo-Addo who spoke during a working visit to the ECOWAS Commission in Abuja on Monday, September 21, called for a strong regional approach to contain the growing threats of terrorist and extremist activities.

He said the growing numbers of breakaway terror groups, the spread of ethnolinguistic groups are a source of worry, expressing concern over the porous nature of the borders and the vulnerabilities of the ECOWAS member states.

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The African leader, however, said the region had agreed to a $1 billion budget for the financing of activities in the action plan to contain terrorism.

He said: “Following the summit, a 2020 to 2024 Plan of Action was adopted by the 56th ordinary session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in December 2019.

“To this end, $1bn was programmed for the financing of activities in the Action Plan. We have to intensify our efforts to ensure that the plan of action is well-financed with a view to ridding our community of terrorism.”
Speaking on the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, the ECOWAS chairperson said the region stands to gain tremendously from participating in the free trade area when it comes into operation in January 2021.”

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He also urged the West African Monetary Agency, West African Monetary Institute, and the Central Banks and Ministries of Finance, to develop a new roadmap and macroeconomic convergence and stability pact for adoption by the Authority as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Nigeria’s vice president, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), on Tuesday, September 15, participated in an Extraordinary Summit of the ECOWAS in Accra, Ghana.

It was reported that Laolu Akande, the senior special assistant on media and publicity to the vice president, who disclosed this in a statement he issued said the meeting formed part of several efforts by leaders in the sub-region to resolve the political situation in Mali.