Minister tasks ECOWAS on human trafficking, free movement
From Oghogho Obayuwana, Abuja
NIGERIA has charged Member-States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to rev up action in the region's war against human trafficking.
Nigeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ojo Maduekwe, gave the charge on Tuesday at the 62nd Session of the regional group's Council of Ministers meeting in Abuja.
Maduekwe, who is chairman of the council, argued that that it is only when the efforts of all countries who constitute sources of origin and destination operate at the same low tolerance level that the fight would have any meaningful impact on the socio-economic wellbeing of the sub-region.
Also, the challenges of "fostering integration through free movement" will be the fulcrum of a lecture to be delivered today by former Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, bringing to a close the 34th anniversary celebration of the ECOWAS in Abuja.
The slow pace seen in the implementation of the free movement of persons, goods and services protocol 30 years after it was ratified has been a source of worry for many in the region who argued that it was long overdue.
Also on Tuesday, a draft decision to modify the regional Common External Tariff (CET) from a four-band structure to five and which will allow member-states to increase their peak tariff on imported goods from 30 per cent to 35 per cent was tabled before the Council of Ministers in the mid-year session.
The four-band CET of between 0 and 20 per cent for goods imported into the region was approved in January 2006 by the Heads of State as part of the process of creating a common market by extending the applicability of the existing CET for the eight countries of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) to other member-states.
A fifth band of 35 per cent was added during the subsequent process of harmonising the regional CET.
A joint committee of the Technical Committee on Trade, Customs and Free Movement will meet later to undertake the process of reclassification to determine the goods that will qualify for this agreed new peak tariff.
Drawing the attention of the ministers to the report of the ministerial meeting on the regional policy for protection and assistance to victims of trafficking in persons held in Accra in April this year, Maduekwe said: "The scourge of human trafficking has assumed a monumental dimension requiring our collective efforts to tackle both at the national and regional levels. Nigeria is irrevocably committed to addressing this problem and over four seasons established an agency, NAPTIP, to tackle the problem headlong, aside from other measures taken so far to stem the menace."
The ECOWAS Commission President, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, reiterated that the crises that had affected the sub-region in the last two years continued to threaten the regional development and integration process.
He added: "It is necessary that the Council of Ministers engages itself with providing concrete and well thought out positions that can ensure that the gains that have been made in the region in macro-economic harmonisation and reform, which have resulted in positive economic growth in the years preceding these crises, are not lost.
"On the contrary, the current challenges should spur us on to redouble our efforts for cooperation and regional integration to cope with the exogenous threats."
However, Chambas will today launch a special edition of the free movement magazine and make a public presentation of the biometric laissez passez, the travelling document for the staff of the Commission and institutions of the community.
Also, the newly installed free movement sensitisation billboards along the Badagry-Seme highway commissioned by the ECOWAS Commission will be unveiled by the Commissioner for Trade, Customs, Free Movement and Tourism, Mohammed Darami, at a ceremony to be attended by Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, tomorrow.
The ECOWAS meeting is also expected to adopt a draft directive on the harmonisation of the legislations in member-states on the Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Duties as well as the draft directive on the guiding principles and policies for the mining sector and an action plan for its implementation.
Also for adoption by the ministers are the ECOWAS Labour Policy and Plan of Action, the policy on the protection and assistance to victims of trafficking in persons and the implementation strategy of the regional action plan against illicit drug trafficking, organised crimes and drug abuse in West Africa.
Included in the package for the ministers' consideration is the operational plan proposed by the commission and the mechanism for monitoring and evaluation.
The ministers also yesterday considered the interim report by Chambas for the first six months of 2009, the 2008 final report of the Financial Controller and the report of the preceding meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee, a committee of experts from Member-States who make recommendations for their scrutiny.
The ministers' meeting is in continuation of the mid-year statutory meetings of the commission that will ultimately culminate in the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the community scheduled for June, 2009 in Abuja.
