ECOWAS moves to fix staffing crisis after member withdrawals

By Favour Ulebor, Abuja

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has taken steps to code a staffing situation affecting its institutions crossed subordinate states, pursuing delays successful recruitment, workforce shortages, and the caller withdrawal of 3 countries from the determination bloc.

Speaking astatine an bonzer league of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers held connected Thursday successful Abuja, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, said the involution became indispensable to tackle persistent administrative bottlenecks and outdated manual recruitment procedures that person slowed down staffing crossed the institutions.

According to him, the determination is aimed astatine restoring equilibrium and ensuring a fair, transparent, and inclusive hiring process aft years of administrative delays, an ageing workforce, and the exit of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger from ECOWAS.

Dr Touray said the Commission was present seeking guidance from the Council of Ministers connected however to administer vacant positions equitably among the remaining subordinate states and find the presumption of unit with dual nationality.

He explained that implicit the past 3 years, the recruitment process had been constrained by existing unit regulations that constricted management’s quality to velocity up the filling of vacancies, starring to a spread betwixt disposable positions and caller hires.

He said ECOWAS has had to prosecute further recruitment firms and is present moving to present an e-recruitment strategy to fast-track applications and interviews.

He besides noted that the abrupt departure of unit from the 3 countries that exited ECOWAS had created a large vacuum, requiring urgent attraction to reconstruct equilibrium and guarantee practice from each subordinate states.

Dr Touray further requested clarity connected however to grip unit who clasp dual nationality, emphasising the value of inclusivity and fairness successful a globalised environment.

He said, “In the past 3 years, we person managed to capable vacancies successful our institutions utilizing a unit regularisation that, for a ample part, constrains management’s quality to administratively expedite this process. It has truthful go indispensable to notation to the Council from clip to clip to assistance america untangle the web.

“With the abrupt departure of a ample fig of our workforce who are nationals of countries that exited from the organisation, namely Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, we are faced with the situation of replacing them. We request the Council to usher america successful the equitable organisation of the vacant positions among each the Member States without sacrificing competence.

“As our unit regularisation did not supply immoderate guidance connected however to allocate vacant positions to circumstantial Member States for the intent of achieving equity, it has go indispensable for Council to supply its guidance connected the mode forward.”

Earlier successful her remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, reaffirmed Nigeria’s enactment for ECOWAS, saying the workout was captious to assistance the organisation run astatine afloat capacity.

She assured participants of Nigeria’s enactment towards ensuring the occurrence of the ECOWAS system.

“We afloat recognise the value of this workout arsenic an indispensable undertaking aimed astatine ensuring that each existing vacancies are duly filled,” she said.

Also speaking, Chair of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and Sierra Leone’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Musa Timothy Kabba, urged fairness and inclusivity successful the recruitment process to fortify determination unity and cooperation.

Kabba emphasised that the integrity of the recruitment process was captious to restoring assurance among ECOWAS citizens, galore of whom look to the instauration for enactment and accountability.

He said merit, competence, and determination equilibrium should usher each assignment to support transparency and prolong the community’s estimation arsenic a people-centred organisation.

He besides stressed the value of avoiding governmental interference oregon favouritism successful the recruitment process, adding that the credibility of ECOWAS depends connected the professionalism of its workforce.

He said, “Our absorption should not lone beryllium connected equitable organisation crossed Member States but besides connected fairness and inclusivity to guarantee a shared imaginativeness for the future.

“The spot ...