A MAJOR fruit has fallen off the tree of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
It is now concluded that a highway linking Nigeria's commercial hub- Lagos to Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire be constructed to facilitate growing trade and oil the engine of the protocol on free movement of goods and persons.
The development came as the Federal Government yesterday restated her commitment to the completion of the rehabilitation work on all federal roads in the country before 2015 as part of its transformation agenda.
Minister of Works, Mike Onolememen who disclosed this in Enugu during the kick off of construction work on the road from Ogurute –Umuida – Enugu State to Ogulu –Igalla/odum local government in Kogi State, said government is desirous of ensuring that Nigerians benefit immensely from democracy.
When seated on earth, the Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire road would go through two other west African countries- Togo and Ghana.
This positive development emerged from the meeting of the ECOWAS Ministers of Works/Road Infrastructure, Transport, Finance and Justice which just ended in Abuja, where the ministers from Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo, signed an agreement on an implementation plan for the construction of a proposed highway.
In this regard, a supra-national agency is to be set up to manage the project implementation phase "to ensure uniformity in approach and standards for the road whose development will be regionally coordinated"
The Guardian