The Deputy Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, says the ECOWAS Parliament is deploying parliamentary diplomacy mechanisms to mitigate Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger’s threats to exit the sub-regional bloc.
Kalu stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on the sidelines of the committee’s delocalised meeting in the Ivorian capital city.
He said there was no cause for alarm over the bloc’s perceived existential threat posed by violent extremism, and the exit threats from ECOWAS by the three West African countries.
“There are already mechanisms in place, through parliamentary diplomacy, to reach out to them.
“Letters have been sent to them, and very soon, some of us will start visiting those countries to engage the heads of government.
“We’ll open up the doors for them to come back to the family; We need them.
“We’ll tell them for instance that, granted, maybe they were offended by one or two things, but let us sit down again and discuss,” the deputy speaker stressed.
He added: “You can’t just forget them and say it doesn’t matter; that they can go on their own. No! We have to reach out to them and say we are better off as one family. I’m sure it’s going to work.”
According to him, in the event of a worst-case scenario, where the three countries go ahead and exit, ECOWAS would not be threatened financially.
The Deputy Speaker said there was s a clear definition of the sources of ECOWAS revenue, noting that the Community Levy happens to be just one of them.
