President Muhammadu Buhari said on Friday that the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) must run a leaner and smarter organisation by cutting costs and becoming more efficient to achieve its objectives.
Speaking while receiving the new President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Jean Claude Brou, at the State House, Abuja, the President also called on the ECOWAS Member States to pay their annual contributions as and when due.
Buhari, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said a lot of work had already been done towards trimming the running cost for which a committee had recommended the reduction of the number of commissioners and the cost of keeping them in office.
“We must work towards limiting costs, keeping the number of statutory positions low and running the organisation more efficiently,” he said.
The Nigerian leader, while welcoming the new President of the ECOWAS Commission to Abuja, pledged the full support of the Federal Government in ensuring that his tenure was successful.
He added: “The task is enormous. The job is not easy, given the many challenges facing the sub-region, ranging from issues of security and that posed by the environment, including the shrinkage of the Lake Chad.”
