The Nigerian Government has agreed to strengthen and expand cooperation between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) on the war against terrorism.
President Muhammadu Buhari stated this in a meeting with the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, on Thursday in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He restated his view that greater regional and international cooperation was needed to ensure victory over terrorism in Nigeria and other countries in Africa.
President Buhari assured Mr. Ouedraogo that Nigeria would hold further consultations with other stakeholders to agree on a new date for the ECOWAS-ECCAS security summit on Boko Haram, earlier scheduled to hold in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea on April 8, 2015.
The summit was postponed because of the general elections in Nigeria on March 28 and April 11, 2015.
President Buhari also assured Mr. Ouedraogo that Nigeria would continue to fulfill its financial obligations to ECOWAS to enhance the regional body’s ability to attain its objective of regional integration and development.
In a statement signed by the Presidential Spokesman Mr. Femi Adesina, he said that the Nigerian President commended the ECOWAS Commission and other ECOWAS institutions for progress made on the Biometric Identity Card system, which would come into force in 2016, saying that its introduction would be a major milestone to full regional integration and the free movement of ECOWAS citizens within the sub-region.
Voice of Nigeria
