Nigeria has threatened to withdraw its membership from the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) if the ongoing recruitment exercise at the ECOWAS Parliament is not suspended forthwith. Nigeria’s representatives at the parliament issued the threat when some principal officers in the regional bloc defied the directives and embarked on the illegal process of recruiting their relatives and cronies.
The lawmakers who cited the huge financial commitments, which Nigeria contributes to ECOWAS yet it is being treated with contempt by other countries whose contributions are negligible. They said there was no commensurate return on investment for Nigeria in ECOWAS for all the country has done and is doing for the region. Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, who is also the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Ahmed Idris Wase, disclosed that it has now inevitable for Nigeria to review its relevance and membership of the bloc. According to him; “If you are in a system, and you are not getting the right results, where you are investigating your money, it pays best to walk out of the union.
“In a situation where we are having an infrastructural deficit and witnessing security challenges, why should we continue to invest our money where it will not benefit our country. “Yes, we will pull out if we don’t get the desired result from this, we are asking for justice not just for Nigerians alone, but for the entire ECOWAS community. That is what MPs are asking for. There are few countries that want to run ECOWAS like a cabal but we will not tolerate that.
