By: Kebba AF Touray
The Council of Ministers of the ECOWAS Commission has approved a budget of 13,082,120 Units of Account (UA) for the utilities and daily running of the office of the Internal Services Department of the Commission, as well as another amount of UA 5,793,628 under a special budget for rent accommodation, construction and renovation of the official residence of the President of the Commission.
These budget approvals were disclosed in the report of the Internal Service Department of the Commission on Tuesday, 16 July 2024. They were presented before Members of the ECOWAS Parliament by Obiageli Nwodo.
The report highlighted some key projects such as the construction and management of the headquarters building and the main frame of the superstructure of the office building, conference center, and other ancillary buildings which have so far been completed.
Also as indicated in the report, the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers was on site on Friday, July 5 2024 with other members of the Ad-hoc Ministerial Committee of construction of the headquarters of the community institution to assess progress and conduct site inspection. The report underscored that the project is expected to be completed on schedule in January / February 2025
Another project according to the report is the renovation of the current structural building, adding that the current headquarters building is 30 years old and there is a need for some structural renovation on the structure.
According to the report, approval of the President of the Commission is still being awaited to commence the tender process.
The report went on to indicate that in line with Article 149 of the Financial Regulation, the External Audit Unit’s 2023 Financial Statements on the ECOWAS Institutions and Agencies as well as the 2023 Consolidated Financial Statements, are being completed and approved by the just concluded Council of Ministers on the recommendation made by the Audit Committee.
On the development of the ECO-link system to agencies and offices and the deployment of the system to Agencies and Offices of the Commission, the report showed that the implementation of the system has resulted in the development of an integrated administrative and financial management system on a real-time basis within all the ECOWAS institutions and Agencies.
“It has improved transparent and prudent financial management, corporate governance, and risk management. It has also helped to align our organizational strategies and plans through visibility of operations and improved decision-making processes,” the report said.
While the sustainability of implemented modules is being monitored through support consultancy, the report informed that the ECOLink team continues to roll out the system in all ECOWAS Offices to have the entire business processes managed within the system.
On the human resource directorate, the report indicated that the overall role of this directorate is to ensure that management deals effectively with the recruitment and development of staff and strengthens the relationship that exists between them; that it also provides a conducive environment where individual employees can make the best use of their capabilities and realize their potentials for the benefit of both ECOWAS and the employee.
To achieve these, the report said that the Human Resource Department is expected to strategically foster partnerships with management and other departments in the Commission, and will benchmark organizations to provide the required best practice in human resources services. It further outlined that the objectives of the HR Department are to strengthen the human resources capacity of the Commission, provide accelerated delivery of such services to all directorates and other stakeholders of the Commission and ECOWAS institutions with fairness and equity, and to provide the necessary support to the Commission in encouraging good work ethics, among others.
The report cited the organization of online training for all ECOWAS staff and MSC & Advisory Committee meetings, as initiated during the Covid period; the organization of the yearly pre-retirement training for retiring staff and the management of the ECOWAS Staff Training Center as some of the main achievements and implementation of the programmes.
