Though in recession, Nigeria pays $54m ECOWAS levy

Notwithstanding the biting economic reality occasioned by the current recession in the country, Nigeria has doled out a whooping  $54 million as part payment of its community levy to the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS for 2015.

This was disclosed by ECOWAS Commissioner for Finance, Mr Allieu Sesay, on Tuesday at the Second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament.

According to Sesay, aside Nigeria, a number of member states have also started fulfilling their financial obligations to the regional body.

This, he said, was possible after consistent persuation and enlightenment of their respective governments.

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He said: “A good number of states were not paying prior to 2016; we had some challenges in terms of members complying with some of our obligations but we were eventually able to persuade through consistent engagement.

“Luckily for us, the Nigerian government paid community levy for 2015 to the tune of about 54 million dollars and we are very grateful for that.

“For now, we have collected 185 million dollars as at September 2016 for the first three quarters of the year, talking about Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2016,” he said.

By Timothy Enietan-Matthews….

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