ACCRA, GHANA — West Africa’s escalating climate crisis, mass migration, and mounting security threats have sparked fresh demands to overhaul the powers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament.
Regional lawmakers, speaking on the sidelines of an extraordinary parliamentary session in Accra, warn that the body’s purely advisory status leaves it powerless to tackle the severe challenges sweeping across the region.
Under its current legal framework, the regional assembly lacks full legislative authority, meaning its recommendations carry no binding legal weight unless approved by executive organs of the bloc.
Senior Nigerian parliamentarians argue that this arrangement severely hampers the region’s ability to coordinate responses to environmental degradation and cross-border instability.
Advisory role under scrutiny
Senator Ali Ndume, a prominent member of the Nigerian delegation, questioned the real-world impact of a assembly whose proposals depend entirely on executive goodwill.”Do we have powers outside of advisory? And how many of the pieces of advice rendered have honestly been considered?” Ndume asked, describing the climate crisis as a fundamental test of regional governance.”The issue is how the power of the regional parliament can be increased so that they don’t just advise or make recommendations, but are able to compel implementation,” he added.Ndume and fellow Nigerian representative Awaji Abiante called for an immediate amendment to the bloc’s founding treaties to grant the parliament true legislative authority and bolster the powers of the regional judiciary.
The week-long session in the Ghanaian capital focused heavily on how shifting weather patterns and land degradation are displacing communities and exacerbating conflict across West Africa. Ndume highlighted the link between environmental stress and violent farmer-herder clashes, particularly in Nigeria, pointing to failed ranching initiatives and a lack of political will to enforce land-use regulations.”Where there are no good laws and order, there is bound to be crisis,” Ndume said, advocating for clearer, enforceable legal standards for livestock movement and resource management across borders.
Delayed ambitions
The ECOWAS Parliament was established with the long-term intention of progressing from a consultative body to a full co-decision and law-making authority.
A 2016 reform expanded its oversight duties and required mandatory parliamentary input in select areas. However, final decision-making power remains firmly in the hands of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers and the Authority of Heads of State and Government. Resolutions passed by lawmakers must navigate a lengthy institutional pipeline before they can become binding community law—a process critics say dilutes parliamentary oversight.
Lawmakers argue that expanding the assembly’s authority is essential not only for effective governance but also for democratic accountability across the bloc.”Until you give a man responsibilities, you cannot question him on what he has done,” Ndume said. “That is the essence of being a member of parliament—to represent your people, advocate, speak to issues, and hold institutions to account.”
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