Liberia Foreign minister lands Ecowas job

Liberia’s Foreign Affairs minister Toga McCintosh has been named as the Ecowas Vice-President.

Dr McCintosh is expected to assume duty at the regional headquarters in Abuja later this month, sources said Thursday.

He will join six others who will serve as commissioners at the head of different departments.

The six new commissioners from Togo, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Gambia, assumed duties at the Ecowas Commission this week, a statement by the bloc said.

They are Dr Lapodini Marc Atouga of Togo for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources; Mr Hamid Ahmed of Niger for Trade, Customs, Industry, Mines and Free Movement and Mr Ibrahim Ba of Mali for Macroeconomic Policy.

Others are Mr Ebrima Njie of The Gambia for Infrastructure; Mrs Khady Ramatu Sacco of Sierra Leone for Administration and Finance and Mrs Salamatu Suleiman of Nigeria for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.

They replace some of the pioneer commissioners whose four-year tenure ended on January 31, 2012.

The new commissioners emerged from a recent recruitment, validated by the Ecowas Council of Ministers at an extra-ordinary meeting on January 14, 2012.

Following its transformation in 2007 from an Executive Secretariat, the Ecowas Commission is run by a President, Vice President and seven commissioners.

The incumbent Chairman of the Commission, Dr James Victor Gbeho of Ghana, urged the newcomers to use their vast, varied and experiences in pursuit of the goals of the regional organisation.

The regional group of 15 countries was founded in 1975 to promote economic and social and cultural integration

But with time, the bloc has been known to be more engaged in settling political and security matters than its economic function.