Gambia second least amount contributor to Ecowas — report

The Gambia is the second least amount contributor to the Ecowas with only 11.171 million dollars in the last 12 years, statistics have showed. Out of 13 countries in Ecowas, The Gambia is above only Guinea Bissau, who contributed the least amount of 3. 107 million dollars. According to a report by Legit.ng, a modern Nigerian digital media and news platform ranked as the 7th overall most visited website in Nigeria, the Nigerian government contributes $710m to Ecowas more than 13 countries put together as shown by the community level statistics. NAN reports that the statistics on payment of the community levy obtained showed that between 2003 and 2015, Nigeria paid $710, 497,352, equivalent to 480, 355,205 West Africa Units of Account (UA). Legit.ng gathers that the West Africa UA is the official nominal monetary unit of measure or currency used to represent the real value. The document was presented by the Ecowas commission as part of the status of the community report during an extra ordinary session of the Ecowas parliament. In the same period, 13 other countries contributed a cumulative amount of 697, 947 million dollars. Within the period, Sierra Leone contributed 19, 632 million, Liberia 29, 988 million dollars, Guinea 31, 101 million, Niger 37, 788 million, Togo $48, 961 and Cote d’Ivoire $54, 173 million. Benin Republic contributed a total of $76, 147 million, Mali paid $93, 538 million, Burkina Faso with $105, 278 million, while Senegal paid $174 177 million. The highest paying country after Nigeria is Ghana which paid $327, 976 million within the same period. According to the statistics, a total of $1.736 billion was contributed within the period by all 15 member states, with Nigeria paying 40.9 % of the amount. Following the report, the budget for each financial year is met by the member states through their contributions to the community levy, a 0.5 % tax imposed on goods from non-Ecowas countries. The national customs administrations of member states are responsible for “assessment and collection” of the levy and daily record “accounts of amounts received”. However, the contributions by Nigeria is not equivalent to the weight it pulls in the sub-regional body, especially in the parliament. For instance, out of the 35 seats allocated to Nigeria in the parliament, many of the representatives are usually absent during plenary. At the plenary in May 2018, only four members out of 35 were present on the day Nigeria presented its country report. Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that it was another mantle of responsibility added for Nigeria as it emerged the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) group at the United Nations. Nigeria replaced Togo as chairman of the 15-nation sub-regional group. The permanent representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Bande, took over from his Togolese counterpart, FrancK Kpayedo at the sub-regional group’s meeting in New York.]]>