Regional parliament to meet in Abuja

A regional parliament set up by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will begin a one-week meeting on Sunday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to elect officers and establish procedures for the conduct of its affairs, officials said. "The parliament will meet in Abuja between the 21 and 27 December. A special committee has been meeting in Abuja in the past few days to work out the full details of the agenda," an ECOWAS spokeswoman told IRIN. The 120-member ECOWAS parliament was inaugurated by the chairman of the community, President Alpha Konare of Mali, at an annual summit of regional leaders in Bamako in November 2000. It is intended to draw up legislation to foster regional economic integration. A report on Thursday in the Nigerian daily 'Thisday' said President Olusegun Obasanjo has proposed the country's old National Assembly building in Abuja as the parliament's secretariat. The paper reported the chairman of Nigeria's House of Representatives Committee on Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Chukwuemeka Chikelu, as saying that the parliament's purview included legislating on human rights and fundamental freedoms. Chikelu said the parliament would also be used to harmonise legislation among ECOWAS member states on matters regarding regional communications and energy links, public policy, community citizenship, environment, and scientific and technological research. It will also review treaties, he said.