#PODCAST>>EPISODE#30: Talking Points around Ecowas@40 (1)

EPISODE #30
Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah Jr
Executive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr

LINK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gu63urn2bsdc0bg/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2003-02-15.mp3?dl=0

"Dear friends,

Please find below a link to the podcast of the full edition of 3 February edition of "Africa in Focus".

We spoke to three experts on aspects of West African integration to offer us a flavour of what we needed to be having conversations as we walk down the road to the fortieth anniversary of ECOWAS.

To that end, we spoke to TWN-Africa’s Sylvester Bagooro who spoke to the issue of economic integration.

As the AU’s Peace and Security Council endorsed a deal to support the Lake Chad Basin Commission countries of Cameroon; Chad; Nigeria; Niger and Benin to form a Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) to rout and combat Boko Haram, we spoke  to WANEP’s Alimou Diallo on the actual composition of the force, and what the sub-region should expect to see around ECOWAS’ peace and security efforts in 2015.

We briefly spoke to a retired ECOWAS Official Frank Ofei, instrumental for the revision of 1993 ECOWAS Treaty, to give us his expert views on what we really need to look out for around ECOWAS’s integration efforts – beyond peace and security. What are its successes, it failures; its potential to help uplift the sub-region to a prosperous West Africa?

Finally, we interviewed AU Commission Official Komla Bissi to offer us an insight into what is considered one of the AU’s most successful programmes – the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, which enjoins Member States dedicate 10 percent of their budget to agriculture.

Kindly find the link to the podcast of #AfricainFocus show on Tuesday 3 February, 2015.

We look forward to comments!

In solidarity!"
Emmanuel""