President Muhammadu Buhari has today, April 23 2020, been appointed to coordinate the Covid-19 response of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).
This was contained in a tweet by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina.
He stated, “ECOWAS leaders at an extraordinary summit held by video conference have appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as Champion that will coordinate the COVID-19 response in the sub-region. All the other Presidents will be available to support President Buhari”.
The President had participated in the extraordinary summit of the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS from Abuja via teleconference.
The summit was convened by the regional leaders to deliberate on the COVID-19 pandemic which has continued to ravage humanity worldwide.
In his opening remarks Chairman of the ECOWAS and President of Niger Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou, raised alarm over the devastating effects of the deadly virus on human and economies of the member-states.
Issoufou called for collaborative efforts among the member-states to combat the pandemic, which he said had already claimed many lives in the region and beyond.
The Nigerien president, who spoke in French language, also advocated for total debts cancellation for African countries to enable the African continent to survive the post-coronavirus era.
While commending the World Bank and Africa Development Bank (AfDB) for their contributions so far towards fighting the spread of the deadly Coronavirus, Issoufou urged the two financial institutions to do more for the African continent so as to save more lives.
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel (SRSG), Mr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, who spoke at the event, reiterated the determination of the UN to continue to partner with the African Union the ECOWAS in fighting the deadly Coronavirus.
He also called for debt cancellation for African countries as part of palliatives to cushion the effects of the virus on their various economies.
About 13 ECOWAS leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari, are participating in the teleconference.
