ECOWAS convenes joint strategic meeting for funding peace, security

The ECOWAS Peace Fund (EPF) on Tuesday in Abuja convened a Joint Strategic Consultation Meeting with partners and stakeholders, aimed at addressing the challenges of funding peace and security in the subregion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that EPF seeks to provide support for ECOWAS’ activities and initiatives, including conflict prevention, management, resolution, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and recovery.

The three-day event, which began with an opening session, seeks to develop the capacities of relevant stakeholders to promote sustainable peace and human security across the subregion.

Declaring the meeting open, ECOWAS Commissioner of Political Affairs, Peace & Security, Dr Abdel-Fatau Musah, decried the challenges of funding peace and security that the Commission was currently facing.

Musah, represented by Dr Cyriaque Pawoumotom, Director, Peacekeeping and Regional Security, however, noted that in spite of the challenges, ECOWAS had over the years achieved success in that regard.

He urged participants to make useful contributions at the meeting and make themselves available to enable the subregion to achieve milestones in its peace and security agenda.

According to him, the meeting also aims at enabling participants and stakeholders share ideas on how similar organisations have been able to manage peace and security funding in their domains.

Also speaking, EPF Manager, Dieudonné Nikema, said the purpose of the meeting was to bring stakeholders together to explore the best structure for the Peace Fund to enable it fulfill its purpose.

He recalled that EPF had tremendously made impact by supporting and promoting ECOWAS peace and security agenda, having addressed the myriad challenges which the subregion was facing.

“It is really a good time for us to reflect together and see how we can cross-fertilise our ideas to make it very strong and to respond to the needs of our different communities.

“As you know, the ECOWAS Heads of State and Government had set up this instrument since the year 2003 and along the line, it got structured.

“In order for it to become very strong, to enable us to mobilise more resources, and also to manage resources for the wellbeing of the ECOWAS communities among all the 15 member countries.

“So, we have here representatives from the ECOWAS Commission, from ECOWAS Specialised Agencies, from development partners,” he said.

The EPF Manager further said, apart from getting funding from the mandatory 5 per cent ECOWAS member states’ community levy, it also got support from the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Nikema said: “The AfDB was even the first partner by whom the Peace Fund was practically established.

“We have also the European Union that is giving us strong support. We also have different partners from Canada, Greece, Japan, China, and many others.

“We have technical partners like the African Union that are supporting us a lot. We have also different training institutions and centres of excellence.

“Also, the United Nations, through UNESCO, the United Nations Volunteers Programme, the UNHCR, they have been supporting us.

“We’re also expecting support from other partners like the World Bank and other financial institutions.”

Dr Tony Elumelu, ECOWAS Commission’s Director, Private Sector, said the reason for the private sector’s participation was for strategic engagement to let them understand what Peace Fund was all about.

“The basic thing is to make sure that we have an understanding, to make sure that the Peace Fund is deployed to achieve its objectives.

“So we’re looking at a way where we can collaborate with the Peace Fund to make sure that the vision is achieved, in terms of economic development.

“We’re doing internal and external consultations, in terms of the peace fund, how to bring in funds, how to bring trust, among others, “ Elumelu added.(NAN)