Provide us with ECOWAS railway lines - CSO leader

Accra, Oct. 5, GNA - Mr. Prince Bagnaba Mba, President of Forum for National Equity, a civil society organization (CSO), on Monday called on ECOWAS member-countries to expedite action on the implementation of their aims and objectives to improve on movement of citizens who travel within the region.

"There should be, as drafted in their aims and objectives, free movement of people and goods, common tariff regime, cross fertilization of cultural practices and the promotion of a better economic life for the people of the region," he said.

Mr Mba, who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra, expressed regret that years after the drafting of those aims and objectives, leaderships of member states were still paying lip-service by constantly protect their individual national interests. He particularly called for the construction of a trans-ECOWAS railway line beginning with Lagos-Cotonou-Lome-Accra line and to later extend it to other member countries to facilitate the movement of goods and other services in the region.

"The construction of the railway lines will also speed up the rate of development as the haulage of goods and services will not be interrupted by constant breakdowns of vehicles that have characterized our road transport."

Mr Mba said although there was an ECOWAS Parliament in place, their operation was not impacting significantly on the people of the region and appealed to them to consider encouraging effective rapport among member states in terms of trade and transport. "We can strengthen the ties of member states by encouraging the use languages such as Ewe, Bambara and Hausa which cut across the borders of some member states," he said. 5 Oct. 09