MONROVIA: Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have called on all technical and financial partners to rally their support for ECOWAS Member States to jointly tackle the issues of food insecurity and malnutrition in the region.
The Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS disclosed that they have taken note of concerns raised on the worrisome food crisis in the region.
The ECOWAS Leaders made the pronouncement at the just ended Sixty-Fifth (65TH) Ordinary Session held on July 7, 2024, in Abuja, Nigeria.
Accordingly, the ECOWAS Leaders instructed the Commission to take all the necessary measures to support ECOWAS Member States in mitigating the impact on the most vulnerable people.
Furthermore, the ECOWAS Leaders called on all the technical and financial partners to rally their support for ECOWAS Member States and jointly tackle the issues of food insecurity and malnutrition in the region.
The ECOWAS leaders, touching on road transport in the region, noted the excessive damage being caused to community roads by overloading.
The ECOWAS Authority directed Member States to comply with the axle load limits in the new harmonized community Text (Supplementary Act SA.3/07/22) ON OVERLOADED haulage trucks which results in the premature deterioration of roads constructed with member states limited financial resources.
The Authority further directed road and Transport Ministers in the region to implement the new Road Safety Policy as adopted by the Authority at its December 2021 Session in Supplementary Act a/sa.4/12/21, towards reducing the number of fatalities by 50% by 2030 as set by the World Health Organization in the global 2nd Decade of Action on Road Safety.
It may also be recalled that 2023 GHI report shows that since 2015 little progress has been made in reducing hunger with the score for the world is 18.3.
The GHI projected that at the current pace, 58 countries will not achieve low hunger by 2023 and as well suggested that none of the GHI indicators will meet the 2030 targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Writes Linda Gbartie
