President Bola Tinubu says he would support a proposal for the direct election of members into the parliament of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.
While swearing in 97 members into the 6th ECOWAS parliament at the Abuja International Conference Centre on Thursday, Tinubu said the move would give citizens of member states a say in who represents them.
His comments came on the backdrop of the ECOWAS parliament consisting of existing lawmakers from the 15 member states.
President Tinubu assured members of the sixth ECOWAS Parliament that Nigeria, as host of the community, will continue to support them to achieve their objectives.
The ECOWAS parliament, also known as the Community parliament was established under Articles 6 and 13 of the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993.
The initial protocol establishing the parliament was signed in Abuja on August 6, 1994, providing for the structure, composition, competence, and other matters relating to the parliament.
The parliament is composed of 115 seats with each member state having a guaranteed minimum of five seats while the remaining 40 seats are shared based on population.
However, only 97 members, comprising lawmakers from various member states, were sworn in Thursday.
They include 35 members from Nigeria and five each from Benin Republic, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo.