The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to facilitating the free movement of products and persons among member countries by supporting the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation’s activities (ALCO).
In a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Ebenezer Adeniyan, the Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, said this while receiving ALCO’s Secretary-General, Idrissa Kone, in Abuja.
Adegoroye praised the organisation’s founding fathers’ vision, saying its benefits could not be overstated.
ALCO is a collaboration of five coastal African countries: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, and Nigeria.
It was founded in 2002 with the goals of preventing, treating, caring for, and supporting people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as facilitating trade and transportation relations in accordance with the protocols of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Adegoroye, who praised President Muhammadu Buhari’s efforts to promote African regional unity, stated that Nigeria must do everything necessary to preserve and improve on the project.
The Minister reiterated the Federal Government’s determination to fulfil its outstanding commitments to the organisation, while pushing ALCO to look into alternative funding sources for its operations.
Earlier, the ALCO Secretary-General stated that the organisation has accomplished a great deal along the corridor in the last 20 years.
According to Kone, the accomplishments were mostly in the promotion of regional integration among the five member states.
He asked the Nigerian administration to strive toward minimising the number of checks and mistreatment of citizens along Nigerian border highways.
According to the secretary-general, the numerous checkpoints have posed a significant obstacle to the country’s free movement of people and products.
