A two-day ordinary session of the Authority of ECOWAS heads of state and government opens this morning in Abuja, Nigeria, with the allocation of statutory positions at the ECOWAS Commission and other community institutions on top of its agenda.
Some highlights of the 40th summit, to be presided over by the current ECOWAS chairman,
The summit will also endorse countries to fill the vacant positions of four judges at the Community Court of Justice who will replace those whose tenure ended in January 2011.
ECOWAS leaders will also allocate positions of the Director General and Deputy Director General for the Dakar-based ECOWAS Inter-Governmental Group for Action against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa (GIABA).
The positions of the Director General and Deputy Director General of the West African Health Organization (WAHO) will also be allocated during the summit.
The regional leaders will discuss the report of the ministerial meeting of the ECOWAS Mediation and Security Council taking place on 15th February 2012; consider the 2011 Annual Report of the President of the Commission and the budget of the Commission and institutions of the Community.
Other reports for consideration of the summit are those of the 66th and 67th ordinary sessions of the Council of Ministers and the 10th extra-ordinary session of the council.
There will be addresses at the opening by the Chairman of the Authority, the Commission’s President James Victor Gbeho and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for