News:
December 6, 2025
President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission Dr. Omar Alieu Touray has appealed to governments of the West African sub-region to remit levies paid by the Community citizen to the bloc; saying it is not up to them to choose whether to pay or not to pay.
Dr. Touray when presenting the 2025 annual report on the state of the Community to the plenary thus appealed to the ECOWAS lawmakers to help in the crusade of ensuring the levies are remitted.
“Governments are not transferring the resources; they are not government resources; the levies should be transferred to their rightful owners”, he emphasized.
Community lawmakers applauded him in his remarks and he charged them to get involved and ensure the levies are remitted.
Dr. Omar Touray noted that the Commission undertook several monitoring and compliance missions to Member States, including Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, Benin, Togo, and Cape Verde, with additional visits planned to Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau.
Further progress was also made toward establishing a harmonized and transparent framework for Levy management with the pre-validation of the Community Levy Manual.
In addition, the Community institutions have diversified their banking relationships, opening new accounts in some banks, based on the recommendations of both internal and external auditors.
Furthermore, all budgeted focal people have been trained on the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). This has resulted in an effective and efficient budgeting process in furtherance of the implementation of the Cashless Policy, and all meeting logistics expenses are disbursed from headquarters via the Commission’s online banking platforms. And on the transfer of the Control of the ECOLink to Management in line with the directives of the 88th Council of Ministers held in July 2022; the transfer of control is now effective at the level of institutions and agencies.
Accordingly, henceforth, ex-ante control functions are being handled by Management in line with global best practice, while ex-post audit is handled by the Office of the Auditor General and External Auditors. In addition, work continued with the implementation of phase II of the ECOlink System.
The 2024 Financial Statements of ECOWAS Institutions and Agencies were audited in accordance with ECOWAS Financial Regulations and the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). After due validation and approval process, the approved financial statements were published on the ECOWAS website and in the Official Journal.
In addition, the Commission continued to implement reforms to strengthen administrative, financial, and human resource systems.
The Commission strengthened diplomatic engagement, resource mobilization, and cooperation with regional and global partners as fifteen new Ambassadors and Heads of Mission were accredited, expanding ECOWAS’ diplomatic reach.
Bilateral cooperation was reinforced through high-level negotiations and support commitments. Notably, Germany pledged €49 million to promote peace, economic development, health, and security in West Africa. Spain and China also made significant contributions, with further negotiations ongoing to secure additional technical and financial support.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com