The President of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Dr Omar Alieu Touray said on Wednesday that the regional bloc spent millions of dollars to support the conduct of member states elections, including Sierra Leone. 

He disclosed this in Nigeria at the maiden weekly press briefing of the ECOWAS Commission.

“ECOWAS is one of the major partners of ECOWAS member states during elections and ECOWAS spends an average of $ 1 million supporting member states during elections.” Touray said.

“We directly support election commissions, give grants and make sure the processes are observed and certified.

“Last year alone, you could recall the participation of ECOWAS in Nigeria’s election, the participation of ECOWAS in the parliamentary election in Senegal, participation of ECOWAS in Sierra Leone as well as Liberia,” he added.

He explained that as a matter of policy, the regional body gives each ECOWAS member a grant of $500,000 to support the conduct of elections while also deploying observers and logistics which cost the regional bloc over $500,000 as well.

According to him, ECOWAS is also spending considerable resources on fighting terrorism in the region while a major intervention is ongoing on maritime security.

“We have stabilization forces in the Gambia and Guinea Bissau while another mission is at the preparatory stage for Sierra Leone. These preventive deployments of regional stabilization forces are vital for the security and welfare of citizens and the community market.

“Only democratic governments can reasonably provide human liberty and dignity. We continue to maintain peace, and support missions in Member States where they are required.”

Touray also said that ECOWAS is taking steps to address the impediments to the unhindered intra-community movement of persons, goods and services to improve the implementation of its flagship protocol and facilitate the realisation of the economic union of the 15-member community.

He also mentioned that the Community is building and interconnecting regional infrastructure and policies for its physical integration such as railways, highways and airways namely the Abidjan-Lagos corridor road project which is the busiest economic corridor in the region and which is being extended to connect Abidjan and Praia via The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

On energy, Dr Touray said major projects are being unfolded while a regional energy market has been developed under the aegis of the West African Power Pool which coordinates the sale and purchase of electricity. He further added that electricity projects have been developed some of which link Benin, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo.