The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has taken steps to fill the vacant positions that opened up, following the exit of the nationals of the AES countries –Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger from the regional bloc.
The ECOWAS Commission, which is saddled with this responsibility, has requested that the ECOWAS Council Ministers on Recruitment for ECOWAS Institutions provide guidelines on equitable distribution of the vacant positions among all the Member States without sacrificing competence.
In his remarks at the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers on Recruitment meeting on Thursday in Abuja, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, said it has become incumbent because the current staff regulations did not provide any guidance on how to allocate vacant positions to specific member states to achieve equity.
He said, “This extraordinary Council is borne out of necessity. In the last three years, we have struggled to fill vacancies in our institutions using a staff regulation that constrains management’s ability to expedite administrative processes.
“The challenge currently is with the processing of these applications and the scheduling of interviews. These have been slower than the staff attrition rate due to an ageing workforce with an average annual loss of staff to retirement estimated at 13 personnel.
“The volume of applications is beyond the capacity of the recruitment firms in place, due to the largely manual method used in processing the applications.
The sudden departure of many ECOWAS workforce members who are nationals of countries that exited the community triggered the challenge of replacing them.
Touray said the commission would also present a memorandum with proposals on achieving this equitable distribution of the positions and fast-track the recruitment process. He assured the Commission’s fairness and even distribution of positions among member states.
In his statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Alhaji Musa Timothy Kabba, said that fairness and inclusivity should be paramount in the distribution of the positions.
Kabba also conveyed the message of the Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS and Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio to the Commission and the Members of the Ministerial Council for their unflinching support to him since his assumption of the leadership of the Authority.
“Today’s Council Meeting is twofold – to discuss the allocation of statutory positions to member states, and to discuss the recruitment and status of staff from AES Countries from Grade P4 and below, which are critical barometers for gauging our institutional credibility and an affirmation of our regional solidarity.
“However, as we deliberate, our focus should not only be on the parameters of equitable distribution of these statutory positions across member states, but also, we should be particularly concerned about fairness and inclusivity to ensure that everyone is involved with a shared vision for the future.
“Our decisions must be grounded in due process, transparency, equity, and in alignment with the broader regional commitments, as building blocks to guarantee economic integration, regional peace and security, and our democratic tenets as a community,” he said.
In her remarks, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, pledged Nigeria’s commitment to supporting the commission in the discharge of its responsibilities.
“As the host Country, we reaffirm our commitment to providing all necessary support to ensure the continued success of the Organisation in all its endeavours.
“We fully recognise the importance of this exercise as an essential undertaking to ensure that all existing vacancies are duly filled, enabling the Organisation to operate at its optimal capacity.
“Nigeria remains steadfast in its role as a dependable partner, ever ready to contribute meaningfully to the strengthening of our Community institutions and to the realisation of the noble objectives for which this Organisation stands,” she said.
