The procedure for adopting the 2023 Community budget has drawn criticism from a number of members of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Parliament.
They said the budget showed less focus on community citizens.
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The Administration and Finance Committee, while presenting the budget had said it wanted more focus on the people through programmes and interventions that would have direct impact
The Lawmakers expressed their reactions in separate interviews with journalists following the adoption of the 2023 Community Budget of 418,072,408 Unit of Account (UA) by the Parliament of Wednesday in Abuja.
The budget was adopted after 2 days of rigorous considerations
The breakdown of the budget forecasts a total of 366 million, 254 thousand, 680 UA for the various institutions under the regional body with the highest expenditure of 252 million, 138 thousand, 356 UA for Ecowas Commission while, WAHO the regional health organization has 56 million, 598 thousand, 020 UA
while budgetary allocation for Peace and Security, a critical challenge of the sub-region was pegged at 21,839,788, ECOWAS Institutions were allocated 366,254,680 for administration and salaries.
Nigerian Lawmaker, Awaji-Inombek Abiante said that the Parliament should have been given more time to understand the budget as do its due diligent as advised by President Muhammadu Buhari during the opening of the Session before adopting it.
Abiante said that the ECOWAS Parliament must act beyond just an advisory role, and the right things must be done so that community citizens can feel the impact.
The session also implored countries not remitting revenues collected on behalf of the regional body to do so as Cape Verde has not remitted since 2017
