ECOWAS Set To Tackle Boko Haram

-Says Enough is Enough
SAN FRANCISCO, May 19, (THEWILL) â€' The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has resolved to invoke necessary sections of its laws, including military might, to fight Boko Haram ravaging parts of the sub region, especially northern Nigeria.

Ghanaian President, John Mahama, announced this when he declared open the 2014 First Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja on Monday.

Mahama, who spoke through the Vice President of Ghana, Kwesi Amissah Arthur, said ECOWAS condemn in strong terms the activities of Boko Haram and promised that the sub-regional body will do everything possible to fight the insurgents.

'We condemn in the strongest of terms, the continuous killing of innocent Nigerians in parts of the North. We shall invoke relevant sections of our laws to fight this crime. The recent abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok is reprehensible and so disheartening. No decent society will accept this,' he said.

Mahama urged ECOWAS Parliament to cooperate and support the governments of the sub region in the fight against insurgency.

Nigeria's President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan , told the gathering that the Boko Haram activities have negatively affected the economic and socio- political life of Nigerians.

'Terrorism and insurgency are alien to our culture. We must therefore stand united against it in all its ramifications.

'We will continue to seek regional and international collaboration in the fight against these crimes which by their nature are transnational,' Mark said.

The Senate President therefore called for understanding to ensure that the West African sub region renowned for its unity, cooperation, brotherly love and peaceful co-existence continues to maintain and improve on this.

Recent events, Senator Mark said, have shown that there is a crescendo of regional security challenges that require us to fortify our democratic institutions in order to be able to confront and overcome these issues.

Vice President of ECOWAS Commission, Toga Gayewa Mcintosh, in his remarks, said peace and security are imperative as the bedrock for development and integration in Africa.

Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament and Deputy President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, promised that the legislature would lay the necessary framework for the governments of the sub- region to tackle the menace of Boko Haram and insurgency.

EMMA UCHE, ABUJA