ECOWAS appoints Buhari as ‘Champion’ to coordinate COVID-19 response
ECOWAS leaders have appointed Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, as the ‘Champion’ to coordinate the response to COVID-19 in the sub-region.
The decision was reached at an extraordinary summit held by the sub-regional leaders via video conferencing earlier on Thursday, April 23, 2020.
All other Presidents in the sub-region are to support President Buhari to deliver on his new mandate.
This was confirmed by the Special Adviser on Media and Communications to President Buhari via Twitter.
ECOWAS leaders at an extraordinary summit held by video conference have appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as Champion that will coordinate the COVID-19 response in the sub-region. All the other Presidents will be available to support President Buhari.
— Femi Adesina (@FemAdesina) April 23, 2020
ICYMI: The ECOWAS Leaders today, appointed President Muhammadu Buhari as Champion of the COVID–19 Response, the President will lead the battle against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the sub-region. pic.twitter.com/DtMqLUFXs5
— Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) April 23, 2020
Other President’s who participated in the virtual extraordinary summit include Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo; Adama Barrow of The Gambia; Julius Bio of Sierra Leone who is currently in self-quarantine; George Weah of Liberia; Faure Gnassingbe of Togo and Alhassanne Outtara of Ivory Coast.
Statistics from the West African Health Organization (WAHO) shows that the sub-region has a total of 6,183 total coronavirus cases, 1,814 recoveries and 158 deaths, leaving 4,211 active cases on the continent.
The data also shows that Ghana has the highest number of coronavirus with 1,154 cases, followed by Ivory Coast which has 952 cases before Niger with 662 cases.
At the height of the Ebola crisis, ECOWAS look to Ghana’s John Dramani Mahama to coordinate the subregion’s response—a task he executed to global applause.
Find below details of the full meeting