History was made on Thursday as Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) elected the first female Speaker to lead the regional legislative arm.
Memounatou Ibrahima, from Togo, was elected at the 2024 Second Extraordinary Session of the Sixth Legislature of the Community Parliament in Kano State, North-West Nigeria.
She emerged as speaker due to the rotation of the speakership of the Community Parliament in alphabetical order in accordance with the provision of Supplementary Act on Enhancement of Power
Memounatou was the third Deputy Speaker in the fifth Legislature of ECOWAS Parliament; she has been in the Parliament since 2021.
Before her emergence as Speaker, Nigeria’s deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, who is the First Deputy, acted as Speaker at the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament on April 4, 2024
The Togolese Delegation was not present during the inauguration of the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS on April 4, 2024. But with this new development, the regional legislature is now poised to face the enormous tasks ahead of it.