By Mark Longyen
Sen. Ita Enang, a Nigerian ambassador-designate and former Akwa-Ibom North-East Senator, has solicited the election of ECOWAS parliament members directly from their countries as opposed to the current “part-time” arrangement.
The former Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on National Assembly Matters, made this known at the ongoing ECOWAS Parliament‘s 2026 First Extraordinary Session and Seminar in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the seminar is themed: ”Deepening Regional Integration through the AfCFTA: Opportunities and Challenges for Expanding Intra-Community Trade”.
Speaking during his presentation, titled: ”Parliamentary Oversight, Legislative Reforms and Implications of AfCFTA for Intra-Community Trade within ECOWAS”, the former lawmaker appealed to ECOWAS leaders to urgently consider the proposal.
Enang urged the ECOWAS Commission and Authority of Heads of State and Government to treat the issue of electing ECOWAS MPs directly from their respective countries with the seriousness it deserved.
According to him, under the current part-time arrangement, lawmakers from member states are often overburdened with their national assemblies’ responsibilities, such that they dedicate only insignificant attention to the regional parliament.
”Electing ECOWAS parliamentarians directly from their respective countries will enhance legislation because delegating already over-burdened lawmakers with regional legislation is counterproductive.
”They are often very busy with budgetary matters and busy attending to the works of their primary elected representatives.
”As such, they will not be able to spend enough time in the ECOWAS legislature because it is part-time in ECOWAS and full-time in their national legislatures,” he said.
Enang suggested that there should be a sunset clause, whereby each country would be given at least a year within which to elect members of the ECOWAS parliament from their respective countries.
”So, it is important for this short sunset clause to be set by the ECOWAS Commission and the Authority of Heads of State and Government to at least six to eight months within which a direct election would be conducted for ECOWAS Parliamentarians,” he said.
He also suggested that 30 per cent of the delegates must be women as a means of mainstreaming them into decision-making process at both national and regional parliament levels.
The former lawmaker said that what was required was the deployment of political will by member states to ensure that they get the buy-in of their unwilling members to elect regional parliamentarians directly from their respective countries.
”They can even decide that the election should be done in one day all over the countries in West Africa or within a period of one month.
”They can even do it by universal adult suffrage, and in accordance with the laws of each country,” Enang added. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
