ECOWAS Parliament Adopts UA19,636,030 For 2026 Budget

The ECOWAS Parliament has reached a solution to earmark the sum of 19,636,030 Unit of Account (UA) fund for the 2026 fiscal year, to money captious sectors to amended the lives of the radical of West Aftica, peculiarly connected the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for effectual authorities and effectual governance.

Speaker of the Parliament, Hadjia Memounatou Ibrahima, made this known successful her closing remarks astatine the extremity of the 2025 Second Extraordinary Session of the determination legislature successful Port Harcourt, Rivers State connected Saturday.

She stressed that the fund “is the motor of our committedness to the radical of West Africa,” adding that it volition “enable america to transportation retired our precedence missions, including implementing the conclusions of the seminar connected AI, portion ensuring virtuous and transparent absorption of nationalist funds entrusted to us.”

The draught fund was adopted by the members of the ECOWAS Parliament during the plenary. The 2026 fund represents a 5% summation compared to the 2025 fiscal twelvemonth budget. This reflects an upward accommodation of UA 939,233 from past year’s fund which stood astatine UA 18,996,897.

Out of the draught fund of UA19,636,030 for 2026, the sum of UA19,368,394 representing 98.64 % is expected to beryllium financed done the proceeds from the Community Levy, portion UA257,636, equivalent to 1.36% volition accrue from others sources.

However, the Parliament has expressed concerns that immoderate members of the assemblage person not been up to day successful the outgo of the Community Levy, adjacent arsenic it threatened sanctions against defaulting countries.

The ECOWAS Community Levy is simply a mandatory 0.5% taxation connected goods imported into ECOWAS member-states from non-ECOWAS countries and it is designed to money the ECOWAS Commission and its activities.

The 2025 Second Parliamentary seminar was centered astir Artificial Intelligence, to research the immense imaginable to modernise parliarmentary work, fortify accountability, and bring its institutions person to citizens. It was followed by the 2025 Second Extraordinary league of the Parliament.

Speaking connected the risks of AI, particularly connected disinformation and misinformation, the Speaker said: “We person besides measured the ethical challenges it raises, peculiarly successful the look of disinformation risks. The recommendations from these reflections volition laic the instauration for a visionary regulatory framework, anchored successful respect for quality rights, inclusion, and antiauthoritarian values that underpin our Community. We are laying the archetypal chromatic for liable and ethical African ownership of artificial intelligence.”

She expressed appreciation to Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu; FCT Minister Nyesom Wike; Deputy Governor of Rivers State, Prof. Ngozi Odu; Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate and First Vice-President of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Jibrin Barau, among others, for their immense contributions to the occurrence of the sessions.

She besides expressed gratitude to each honourable deputies of the ECOWAS Parliament for their information successful the occurrence of the work, peculiarly the members of the ad-hoc committees connected the Administration, Finance, and Budget Committee, whose informed recommendations volition usher aboriginal action.