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General news for Monday 25 January 2021
Source: 3 News
01/25/2021
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo noted that the new variant of the coronavirus in West Africa accentuates and worsens the exogenous shocks affecting the region .
He said so during the Virtual Summit of the 58th Ordinary Session of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, on Saturday 23 January 2021.
Mr. Akufo-Addo told ECOWAS that 2020 has been a particularly difficult year in the history of ECOWAS and that of humanity, because of COVID-19.
“The pandemic has spared no sector of our social, economic, humanitarian, financial and security life. It continues to be even more devastating, especially with the onset of the “second wave” and the emergence of a new variant of the virus in most parts of the world. Its negative impact has accentuated and worsened the exogenous shocks affecting our region. The pandemic has brought in its wake unprecedented levels of hardship for all of us.
“However, far from seeing this situation as a disaster before which we are powerless, we must fully embrace the lessons it teaches us, as well as the direction it shows us. In particular, we must remember that this gave us a good idea of the importance for us of strengthening our unity and solidarity.
“This has given us the opportunity to be self-reliant, and it is a clear call for us to remain faithful to the main objective of ECOWAS, which is to promote cooperation and integration for the well-being of our people. citizens.
“We have shown tremendous resilience and solidarity throughout the period, as evidenced by the decisions taken on April 23, 2020, at our Extraordinary Summit, which helped contain the spread of the virus in the region. Region.
“Allow me to sincerely thank our Champion in the fight against COVID-19, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari, for the important efforts made through the provision of COVID-19 drugs, medical equipment and the deployment of human resources in our respective countries.
“We thank our foreign friends for their invaluable support, which has enabled the ECOWAS Commission and the West African Health Organization (WAHO) to broaden their scope of support to Member States to complement their efforts.
“The time has come for us to work seriously on immunizing our populations. We must send them a strong signal, from this summit, of our determination to protect them. “
He added: “Excellencies, despite the pandemic, we have preserved and strengthened the achievements of regional integration, in particular in the field of the consolidation of democracy, the free movement of goods and the development of economic infrastructure.
“We continue to face critical security challenges with deadly terrorist attacks in Mali, northeastern Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Niger. I reaffirm our strongest condemnation of these attacks in our region and our community and I deplore the activities of these criminals, terrorist groups. We sympathize and extend our sincere condolences to the affected countries and the families of the victims.
“These developments must strengthen our conviction that we must continue, even more vigorously, the actions we have taken, with the swift implementation of the decisions of our Extraordinary Summit on Terrorism, held on September 14, 2019.
“This concerted effort, which must be a major priority objective of the Community, is the best way for us to collectively meet the security challenge, and to give ourselves the means to ensure the security of the populations of our Community. Our dignity and sovereignty are at stake.
“I thank all Member States who are making significant efforts to support our initiatives in this regard, especially those who have started to make their financial contribution to the US $ 1 billion ECOWAS Regional Security Fund (ERSF). ($ 1 billion), created in support of the Counter-Terrorism Action Plan 2020-2024. Collecting this money must be a priority for us, because it allows us to act independently in this crisis. Your Excellencies will recall that the 2019 Summit established the Fund for a period of five (5) years, 2020-2024. “
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