ECOWAS leaders on Thursday appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as the champion that would coordinate the COVID-19 response in the sub-region.

His appointment was announced at the Extraordinary ECOWAS Summit on COVID-19 held via teleconferencing, presided over by the chairman of the regional body and President Mahamadou Issoufou of the Republic of Niger.

Buhari said the coronavirus pandemic had put the West African sub-region in a state of unprecedented economic uncertainties, including severe fiscal and foreign exchange constraints amid a slowdown in global economic growth that most nations are grappling with.

He said this had made it imperative for “our sub-region to refocus on accelerating the implementation of our popular vision of ‘ECOWAS of the people’ by adopting dynamic regional policies aimed at providing relief to our citizens.”

According to him, this is the time for his West African leaders to implement critical policies hitherto difficult to accept.

He said: “Despite declining revenues, government continues to spend massively on the containment of the virus, medical care for those infected and minimizing impact of the crisis on the poor and vulnerable. This situation puts severe pressure on our finances by increasing our expenditures amid dwindling revenues. This invariably has led to a restructuring and reduction of our budget.”

Issoufou called for total debts cancellation for African countries to enable the continent to survive the post-coronavirus era. (Daily Trust)