The Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has called for increased solidarity and cooperation between states in the sub region to fight and alleviate the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Addressing the 58th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS in a Virtual summit over the weekend, President Akufo-Addo said the repercussions of the pandemic, which is being felt in every sector, called for a common response by the economic bloc.
He said the onset of the second wave of COVID-19 and the outbreak of a new variant in most parts of the world, was a point for the sub region to coordinate more its responses and approach to the common challenge that could “worsen the exogenous shocks affecting our region.”
“Far from viewing this situation as a disaster before which we are powerless, we must embrace fully the lessons it teaches us, as well as the direction it is pointing us. In particular, we must remember that it has given us a good sense of how important it is for us to strengthen our unity and solidarity. It has provided us with the avenue to be self-reliant, and it is a clarion call for us to remain faithful to the main objective of ECOWAS, which is to promote cooperation and integration for the well-being of our citizens”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo extended appreciation to the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, for championing the fight against COVID-19 in the region, by providing medicines, medical equipment, and deploying human resources to other ECOWAS countries. He also commended the region’s foreign partners for their support, which ensured that the ECOWAS Commission and the West African Health Organization (WAHO) were able to broaden their scope of support to Member States as a complement to their efforts.
With vaccines available for COVID-19, the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, has approved a pooled procurement approach for antiCOVID vaccines. The authority has instructed the ECOWAS Commission to set up a Vaccine Revolving Fund and called on national governments, development banks, the private sector and partners to contribute to the Fund. The Fund will be used to secure anti-COVID vaccines in the region through short-term pooled procurement and medium-to long-term regional manufacture.
The ECOWAS Commission and WAHO, in conjunction with Member States, has been instructed to lead the process of sourcing 240 million doses of preferably WHO-approved vaccines through direct and collaborative approaches to manufacturers, partners and friendly foreign governments that may be willing to sell extra doses that they may have pre-purchased. The Authority has decided to immediately establish a COVID-19 Donor Working Group to undertake a fundraising campaign and appoint eminent citizens as investment champions to support the campaign. It has also directed that the vaccination campaign should start latest by the end June, 2021.
“The time has now come for us to work earnestly towards the vaccination of our populations. We need to send a strong signal to them, from this Summit, of our determination to protect them” .
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Read also: ECOWAS calls for investment in agriculture, healthcare to address food crisis
