The First Deputy Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase said that Nigeria will consider the option of pulling out of ECOWAS if Nigeria’s benefit from the regional body is not equivalent to its investment. He also decried the casualization of staff by ECOWAS institutions, as well as flouting of resolution of the Parliament on the ongoing recruitment exercise, in this interview with LINUS ALEKE.

What are your thoughts on the casualization of staff by ECOWAS institutions, especially those from Nigeria and other smaller countries, even when Nigeria contributes close to 70 percent of ECOWAS funding?

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Nigeria has done so much for ECOWAS, over 60 percent of ECOWAS funding comes from Nigeria. Then, we have staffers who are of Nigerian origin that may have done better or progressed rapidly in their career if they were within the bureaucracy of the Nigeria Nigerian civil service. Their colleagues and contemporaries in the Nigerian civil service are now directors and even permanent Secretaries and those of them in ECOWAS institutions are stagnated for years. They are not promoted because they are engaged as casual staff. We cannot subject these staff to remain at the same level for more than 10 years. ECOWAS employ them as casual staff and kept them as casual staff for that long. It offends the International Labour Organization (ILO), Convention on Forced Labour. I was an activist and a unionist, before joining politics. We cannot keep an employee for more than six months on casual, it is against international law. But here we have kept them for many years, up to nine years, it is inhuman. So, what the Parliament is talking about is transparency, and doing the right thing in the right manner. I heard them saying that the audit report was inconclusive, which then mean that there were issues. Whether inconclusive or not, in Parliament, there is what we call an interim report. So, there was an interim report, and that is what some members were relying upon, it does not mean that because they were unable to conclude, then there was nothing. There was something on the table, and I will refer to that inconclusive report that the Secretary-General mentioned as an interim report before the Parliament, which of course should be used, and considered. Because it raised issues regarding the imbalance in the composition of the staff. I will refer you to the Nigerian constitution, which if we rely upon will help solve this impasse. Section 14 (4), of our constitution, provides that, the composition of government shall be in a manner that reflects the federal character. Now, we have people who possibly have one opportunity and they want to bring in their relatives, and their siblings against the larger interest of our community. Common judgement teaches us that when we have nations coming together, we should do the distribution in such a way that justice and fairness take the centre stage. If Nigeria had not asked for a 60 percent benefit in ECOWAS before now, it must have been a mistake. Because our division should be equivalent to our contribution and investment. And if that is not done and the little that we have in the system are being humiliated, we will not take it. And that is why the Parliament has taken a motion. From the National Assembly of Nigeria, we are also going to probe our Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Finance Minister who is giving the money, and the Commissioner who is representing us at the Commission. What are they doing there, are they part of this nonsense going on, possibly because they have one interest to protect or the other? We will not allow that to happen. We will expose everybody from the Nigerian Parliament and sanctions will follow. We will sanction anybody found wanting in the process.

Will the Nigerian delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament led by you move for the suspension of the ongoing exercise pending the outcome of the investigation?

No, in Parliamentary practice, you don’t conclude that certain negatives had happened based on assumptions. It is when the committee completes its work on it and submits its report before we begin to push for suspension or sanctions. We will do that after the investigation.

MPs moved the motion for the suspension of the ongoing recruitment in ECOWAS at the plenary during the First Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Parliament in Abuja and we understand that the exercise is still ongoing despite that resolution, is that not an assault on the Parliament?

It is an assault on the Parliament but I can assure you that the ongoing exercise is an action in futility. First, the powers of Parliament are supposed to regulate and oversight, as well as approved. If the person that is tasked with the legal duty to regulate and checkmate you has asked you to stop a certain line of action and you said no. You are simply saying that the person has no relevance. If the Parliament can give a resolution and then the people that are supposed to implement it ignore it, it then means that they don’t see the need for the Parliament. If they see the need for the Parliament, they will respect the resolution of the Parliament.

Are there consequences for this kind of action?

Sure, but it is going to be the collective resolve of the parliamentarians. I don’t want to believe that other countries are stupid. But even if they will behave that way, we may apply our super, and that is where we are calling for the support of the National Assembly to ensure that the right things are done.

Will Nigeria also consider the option of pulling out of ECOWAS, if it is not satisfied with the outcome of the ongoing exercise?

Why not? If you are in a system, and you are not getting the right results, where you are investigating your money, it pays best to walk out of the union. In a situation where we are having an infrastructural deficit and witnessing security challenges, why should we continue to invest our money where it will not benefit our country? Yes, we will pull out if we don’t get the desired result from this.

Are you now demanding that Nigeria should be given more employment slots and management positions to compensate for its huge funding for ECOWAS?

Yes, that is what we are demanding but above all, we are asking for justice not just for Nigerians alone, but for the entire ECOWAS community. That is what MPs are asking for. Few countries want to run ECOWAS like a cabal but we will not tolerate that.

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Why are Nigerian parliamentarians in ECOWAS Parliament not committed to activities of the regional Parliament, out of 35 MPs from Nigeria, only eight or 10 are consistent.

I disagree with you on this, don’t use such statistics, it is incorrect. I will, however, accede to the fact that we have inconsistency but that is also directly linked to the process of selecting the members that will represent Nigeria at the ECOWAS Parliament. When I came on board, I observed this and what I did was discuss it with both leaders of the National Assembly then. We agree that whoever must be selected to represent Nigeria at the ECOWAS Parliament must be consistent. We also, agreed that any member who misses sitting for a certain number of times must also be changed. All these rules are still in force and that is why there is more commitment by the Nigerian delegation now than at any other time in history. We have continued to defend Nigeria’s position any time issues affecting our country are discussed at the plenary.

The incumbent Speaker of ECOWAS Parliament is pushing for direct election to ECOWAS Parliament, will implementation of this enhance the commitment of MPs to the activities of the regional Parliament?

That may not be the solution, I am a democrat, and I wish we could achieve that as a Parliament but the dynamic of Nigerian politics and the nature of our people, and the complexity, in terms of population will hamper its effective implementation. If we are coming from a country that is one or two million people, it is easier to do elections there. But when we have two hundred million people it becomes difficult. How do we do the sharing in terms of the place that the parliamentarians will come from? Are we going to delineate constituency in ECOWAS? I asked these questions at the meeting of the bureau. How are we going to do it? If we decide to have that, is it ECOWAS that is going to conduct the election? Is it the Nigerian Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that is going to conduct the elections? Has delineation been done? Pushing for a certain vision is different from its practicability when it comes to the implementation of that vision.

As the leader of the Nigerian delegation to the ECOWAS Parliament, what is your assurance to the Nigerian staff in ECOWAS institutions?

If I could stand on the floor of the Nigerian Parliament to speak about what I had seen, it then means that I am committed to it. My commitment is total, it is a rare privilege and opportunity that God has given to me. I should not have been the First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament if I were not the Deputy Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives and I cannot be the Deputy Speaker in Nigeria without the support of Nigerians. So, I have to protect the corporate integration of Nigerians, wherever they are and protect their rights, privileges, and opportunities, and create more wealth for Nigerians.